Prisoner of Metal and Flesh
by maniac's maniac
Summary: I'm free of that man, but why... Why do I still feel like property of him? I am grateful to Phineas and Ferb for all that they have done for me, but how could I still be part of their family? It's simple. I can't. Not anymore. 2nd Dimension fic.
1. A Troubled Savior

Prisoner of Metal and Flesh

Part 1: A Troubled Savior

**(A/N: This was originally supposed to be a one-shot about the second Dimension Perry, but then I realized that there's so much more that I wanted to do with him. I must say, Perry is a really fun character to write since all he does is expressed through emotion and action. This is my first (posted) P&F fanfic, but please be brutally honest with me.)**

I felt happy. Seldom had I ever felt such joy since that day so long ago. The sun was beating down on me and I could feel its warmth consuming my entire being. I opened my eyes and gazed up at the sky, shining and blue. Not a single cloud could be seen in that deep azure for miles. I sat up, petting the cool, green grass that stretched on for what seemed like forever. My body felt lighter than it ever had, as if a great burden had been released from me. When I stood I felt like I could fly. I spun around in the field, arms extended and held aloft in the air like a child pretending to be a helicopter.

Then I heard something whisper in my ear. I stopped turning and looked around for what had made the sound.

"Perry?" a familiar voice now clearly called out. As I kept searching I saw the figure of a person standing on the horizon. Curious as to what this person wanted, and why he was here, I approached the unknown man.

Just as I came close enough to see his face a flame burst into existence at my feet. I jolted back to avoid being burned by the fire as I watched the flame quickly scorch the grass all around it. I blinked in confusion as the entire landscape turned dry and shriveled while the sky turned an ugly shade of polluted brown. The flame quickly spread into wildfire that ate the entire field. I looked up in terror from the hell that surrounded me only to find him standing before me.

"What's wrong, Platyborg? Why won't you to respond to me?" The man spoke to me in that thick German accent.

I looked into the man's ugly, smirking mug. Oh, how I wanted to punch that man. I wanted to grab him by the neck and make him pay for all that he did, but when I willed myself to move, my body didn't give a single motion in response. I again tried to attack this man and again I found myself unable to follow through with my wish. When I glared down at myself to see what was wrong with me I found that my hands were missing, and replaced by mechanical ones. In shock, I stumbled backwards and became engulfed in the flames.

Undoubtedly, the fire was hot and raging, but I could no longer feel anything. Even as the fire swallowed me whole I felt nothing, not even fear. The red and orange lights blinded me as they fed themselves off of my dying body. Then everything fell to black.

I regained some form of awareness as my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. I could feel the cold, smooth ground beneath my broken body as I stood. I stared into the black void all around me. I couldn't see anything in the distance but somehow there was enough light to see my own crippled, robotic body. Something behind me shifted mechanically. I slowly twisted around to look at what had made the metallic sound. From the darkness something moved in an almost predatory way. I immediately knew that whatever it was I did not want it to be anywhere near me. At first I tried to slowly back away, but I could feel its eyes bearing down on me, looking for the exact moment to strike. I came to the sudden realization of what it was and knew that I mustn't show any sign of weakness or fear, or it would strike. What appeared to be a lens glowed bright red from that thing in my direction.

It was only then when I started to run. I could hear it behind me, running on all fours, like a wolf chasing after a rabbit, trying to get closer, biding its time, waiting for the instant that the rabbit failed, so it could go in for the kill. I knew that if I had stopped, even for a moment that it would catch me. Slowly, but surely the mechanized running behind me was gradually getting quieter and quieter, getting farther and farther away. I thought that maybe it had given up, that maybe I had gotten away, that maybe I was safe, but that was when the sounds of engines blared above me. It had taken to the sky.

I was running at top speed, but it was catching up. I was beginning to tire, but it was still chasing me. I had to go faster or I would be caught, but that would be impossible. I considered that I could also take to the sky, and face it on even ground, but I knew that it would catch me as I tried to take off.

"Perry the Platyborg," his voice rang inside my head, "I'm in prison, I need you to break me out."

Just as he said that, bars erupted out of the ground and a cage appeared in front of me. I had to skid to a halt to keep from running into the metal rods. In front of me, stood him, Heinz Doofenschmirtz, studying my every move.

"What are you waiting for? I need you to break me out of jail." He ordered me, making me feel ill with every word he spoke.

A loud clanking noise came from behind, and I knew that it had landed. I knew what it was, I knew it was there, I knew that any moment it would attack me, but I didn't dare to look at it. I couldn't look at it, and I knew that if I did, it would devour me.

The world began to shake, the darkness slowly began to dissipate into light, the room began to shatter all around me, and I didn't know why. "Perry? Wake up Perry," a new, innocent, and worried voice echoed in the now bright room, "are you okay? Perry?"

.~.

I literally jumped awake, right onto a young, red haired, sickly pale boy. My heavy metallic body pinned the poor child against the floor, nearly crushing him.

"Perry..." my owner, Phineas, addressed to me as he gasped for air from underneath, "did you have another bad dream about Doofenschmirtz?"

I hastily got off of him and helped him up.

He eyed me curiously, patiently waiting for an answer.

I nodded with much dismay. Phineas was worried about me. I knew that he cared deeply for me, but it all just felt out of place. While I knew that I was free, and I was truly grateful to Phineas' family for letting me stay, while knowing what I am and what I have done, I couldn't help but feel that I didn't belong. How could I still belong in their family? I simply couldn't, at least not anymore. Even after all that Phineas and Ferb have done for me I still felt like property of that man.

Phineas looked at me with concerned eyes. "Perry, you need to tell me what's wrong," he told me in his naive tone, "we're family again, so if you have any problems you should just tell us."

I nodded to reassure the boy, but something on my face must have told him otherwise.

"Perry, you're safe. He can't get you here. Doofenschmirtz is in jail, and the remains of the O.W.C.A. have joined with the resistance to keep him closely monitored. They both agree that you can stay with us without our memories being wiped or anything like that since the leader of the resistance lives here. If you ever short circuit or breakdown Dr. Baljeet will be able to fix you back up. We will do anything to keep you safe." Phineas spoke, trying to bring up my spirits.

A grin somehow forced its way across my face. It was bittersweet. A lump had formed in my throat making it hard to swallow. I really was thankful to him for the attempt, but he just didn't understand. How could he understand? I did atrocities under that man. Some of them, people still find unspeakable. I used to watch people slowly suffer, just because I could. Sad thing is that I would enjoy it. But still, the most terrifying thing above all was that I was never programed to be cruel, or hate filled, I was only programmed to obey that man as a slave, without question or remorse. No matter how much I would try to dismiss such sadism as part of my wiring, as a virus in my system that had been destroyed after I was electrocuted, I could not help but wonder if a part of me actually did enjoy such things. Thinking about it always made me feel sick.

"Perry." Phineas pronounced, reverting my attention to him. "I need you to promise me that you will tell me whenever something's wrong." He held out his pinky finger to me and waited.

I looked at him in confusion for a few moments before my brain processed that he wanted me to make a 'pinky promise.' I timidly held out my hand, pinky finger extended and hooked his with mine.

Phineas grinned at me. Sympathy was apparent in his eyes. Once Phineas had felt satisfied with the contract we made he let my finger go. Phineas turned to leave the room saying, "we have a busy day today. We're going to try and make amends with the United States of America. If today works out well we'll be part of America again!"

The moment he left I couldn't help but feel heavy with dread. At all times as condition for staying with the boys I had to be either at the house, or be within viewing distance of a member of the Flynn-Fletcher family. I didn't particularly want to be fenced in, alone at home (the adults of the household would be out all day helping to rebuild the community and probably wouldn't want me there), and even if I did the boys would drag me along anyway. Still, I hardly wanted normal people to see me, and I especially didn't want to see any politicians, particularly since the last one I met left with both of his legs broken. I sighed and stood onto my hind legs, since my machinery didn't agree with me crawling on all fours anymore. I knew that I would have to face them sooner or later, so today was as good as any. I knew that today was not going to be easy, but I just hoped that Mr. Robins wouldn't be among the representatives as I walked downstairs.

Once I went into the kitchen, the air in the room became tense. Linda eyed me nervously from her place at the counter, fear evident in her eyes while Lawrence stared intently at his morning rations of food. Candace on the other hand glared at me from the table, analyzing my every move. I walked over to the pantry and pulled out a very old bag of Platypus food. As I poured today's cut of food into my dusty food bowl that hadn't been moved in years, Ferb spoke up in the silence.

"Perry, you can eat with us today." He looked at me innocently from above a pair of dark sunglasses.

I shook my head in refusal. Though I may live here I wasn't really family, at least not anymore. Besides there shouldn't be any animals at the table, it's common knowledge.

"Yeah, Perry, Ferb's right you should eat with us. After all, you've earned it." Phineas agreed, sitting next to Ferb.

I was about to disagree again when Linda spoke. "It's okay... P...Perry. You can sit at the table, it's fine." She didn't make eye contact, and she shook as she said it, but she actually talked to me. When I first came back she had a panic attack, and ran to hide in the basement where Phineas, Ferb, and Candace explained everything that had happened. For a while she was too scared to even be in the same room as me. It wasn't until recently that was she able to stand being in my presence. Still, she hadn't spoken a single word to me until now. Truth be told, I was proud of her for overcoming her fear of me. After all she had been though because of me, she still dared to speak up. There was no way I could refuse now. I moved my food dish to an empty spot at the table and pulled up a chair for myself. We had breakfast together, and for the first time in a very long time I felt like I was home.

Candace was going over the edict involved when talking to people of higher status than you since we were going to talk to a representative of the United States at today's meeting. Linda and Lawrence were talking to each other in a hushed tone, but I could tell that they were talking mainly about which part of Danville they would be fixing up today, and how proud they were of their kids for all they were going to accomplish.

By the time breakfast had ended, things felt almost normal, but the moment I stepped outside I was reminded of my position. Though that man was no longer in control, most buildings still reminded us of his oppression. While his building was torn down as if it were the Berlin Wall to the Tri-State area many of his statues still stood around the town, covered in vandalism. Maroon clouds still hung, ominously in the sky and it felt as if hardly anything had really changed.

"Come on, Perry, we don't want to be late!" Phineas urged, seeing that I was falling a bit behind. "We need to be at the library by nine."

I sped up a little to catch up with them, but I doubted we would be late at this kind of pace, unless something unexpected happened.

Quite literally, just as I thought that, I heard someone scream, "Help!" at the top of their lungs.

Almost automatically, I sprung into action. Wings slid out of my back, and I soared into the sky towards the voice. Below, I could vaguely see Phineas, Ferb, and Candace chase after me from the ground. They knew that my senses were vastly improved ever since I became a cyborg, and they knew that I only took advantage of that fact when it was necessary. Off in the distance I could see a young girl on top of a building being attacked by some... thing. I say 'something' because from that distance I had a difficult time locking onto the target, and for some reason, even though I could see the girl clearly, to the extent that I could watch a drop of sweat flow down her face, I couldn't verify who or what this attacker was.

I landed in front of the attacker just as it was about to punch the child, taking on the full blow. A normal person would have been knocked unconscious by such a hit, but I was able to completely halt the attack. Now that it was directly in front of me I discovered why I couldn't confirm who the attacker was, it was a Normbot. I couldn't get a lock on it because my programming refused to see it as a threat or as a feasible target. I could sense the child slowly backing away from us, and closer to the edge of the roof. The Normbot tried to move to the side to grab the child, obviously it didn't see me as a threat either. I grabbed its arm and pulled off a loose piece of its armor, revealing the network of wires underneath. With one hand I pulled out a series of cords, and the other receded into my wrist. I put the wires into the hole where my hand would usually be, and attempted to make a link with the robot. Once the link was made I tried to take over the system so that it wouldn't attack the child. Access denied. That was unusual. I tried to shut the machine down. Access denied. That shouldn't happen. I ordered it to stop. Access denied. I tried to rewrite the system. Access denied. I tried to get into the weapons system. Access denied. I tried to change its orders. Access denied. I tried getting into its memory. Access denied. I tried a technical scan of the entire robot. Access denied. I tried to get back out of its system. Access denied.

I started to panic, not for the child, but for myself. I knew that as long as I was connected the Normbot, it couldn't move, but neither could I. I was trapped inside this robot's hardrive. I tried and retried everything I could possibly think of to get in or out of its system, every time, 'Access denied,' chimed in my head and flashed before my eyes. Then I felt something downloading itself into my system. I forced it to stop and I was actually booted out of the system. This particular robot was obviously no regular grunt, someone had programmed it for a specific purpose, that not even I could interfere with. Truthfully, it made me feel a bit offended. I was the general of that man's army, so I was always allowed to get into pretty much anything I wanted, and I was never booted by anyone except for... that man. Could he have possibly? No. He couldn't have. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind

Well, it was no more Mr. Nice Platyborg. Hacking into your system to shut you down just wouldn't be enough anymore. I replaced my sunken hand with a sharp dagger-like blade and I lunged at the hunk of metal. Every kind of pop up you could possibly imagine saying anything and everything to the effect of, 'Warning, stop, don't kill this robot' flashed into my head at that single moment. My ears blared with warnings as more notices flashed before my eyes, giving me a headache. Every circuit in my programming told me to not smash the Normbot to smithereens as they made every single movement and action harder to do. Lucky for me I knew these robots. Now I was fairly grateful that I was forced to do maintenance on these piles of junk every single day while under that man, because it made me learn every strength, weakness, and flaw, every pattern of movement and attack, and every important circuit and how to access them easiest. I rolled and jumped, stabbing my blade into every weak spot I could reach. Before too long I knew that it was at its end. Sparks were flying, wires were cut, movement was stiff and uncalculated, and the robot was falling apart. Just as I was about to deal the final blow a shrill cry sounded behind me. It was the girl. I had completely forgotten about her, and now she was falling. During the fight we must've been inching our way closer and closer to the girl, who in turn backed away from us and closer to the edge of the building. My wings rushed out of my back, and I bounded off of the building after the girl. I grabbed the girl and tried to lift us in the air, but I came to the horrible realization that there was not enough space between us and the ground to launch ourselves into the sky. As a last minute effort, I adjusted my weight and turned so that I would fall first. I tightly held the girl in my arms, hoping that at least she would be safe.

All we saw was Perry plummeting to the ground. We didn't know what had happened, just that Perry flew off somewhere. As his owners we couldn't just let him go, and fly off to who knows where. We had to follow him. When we finally caught up with him he had just jumped off the top of a 20 story building to grab a girl.

"Perry!" I shouted, running to his side when the dust of his impact had cleared.

The girl in his arms was screaming, "Help me! It hurts! Please, help!" Perry had a hard time controlling his strength since he became mostly metal. He must've been crushing her without realizing it.

Where Perry lay the cement was cracked and broken from the impact of his fall. We all worked together to pry the girl from Perry's arms. His grip was mechanical and unyielding, but we were eventually able to remove the girl. "Perry?" I asked once we had moved the girl to safety.

He lay there motionless. No response.

"Perry?" I asked again with increased urgency. Again he didn't move. "Perry!" I started to shout and shake his body. "Please, Perry wake up! We can't loose you again!"

"Phineas." Candace's voice spoke out, putting her hand on my shoulder. "We'll call Dr. Baljeet. He'll know what to do, but first you need to calm down." She used her other hand to point at Perry's body. "Look. He's still breathing. We can take him to the library and have Dr. Baljeet fix him up. We still have the meeting with the ambassador to attend."

I looked up at my big sister with awe. It was just like her to come up with the best solution for everyone, especially us, her little brothers. "Okay," I answered and took deep breaths to calm myself down. Yes, of course Dr. Baljeet would know what to do, he always knew what to do when Perry was involved after all he loved the prospect of fixing a cyborg platypus up.

Ferb and I both had to work together to pick Perry up and carry him. He was a lot heavier then he looked. We slowly started to drag Perry to our destination.

"Um, excuse me," a small voice started. We turned to see the girl that Perry had saved. She was probably about half our age, and a lifetime less experienced. She hesitated looking at the each of us in turn, but not Perry before asking, "I don't want to be a bother, but could I come along?"

Candace examined her intensely. "Why do you want to do that?"

"It's just that he... he saved me. I.. I just want to... I want to thank him." The girl was shy and obviously scared, but the determination in her eyes was apparent.

Candace looked her over one more time. "Okay, fine, just don't get in the way at negotiations."

The girl's eyes lit up in joy, but she didn't say a word.

For some unknown reason at that moment I wondered if she really knew who her savior was.

**(A/N: Edit: I give a personal thanks to PhoenixWormwood137 for pointing out me little issues with its and it's and how to spell Baljeet's name. I hopefully fixed it, however how I fixed it may prove to be an issue, so please tell me if any, and I mean ANY formatting issues)**


	2. Diplomatic Breakdown

Part 2: Diplomatic Breakdown

**(A/N: Wow. I seriously did not anticipate for this fanfic to have more than two parts to it... But I feel that it's necessary to split it. Six pages is quite a lot for me when it comes to fanfiction. Any more pages per chapter and no one would read it. Plus it helps with the formatting. Well I hope you enjoy! Please don't be afraid to comment, I want to hear everything that you have to say about it!)**

"Where are you, Platyborg? Why do you resist my authority? You know it's futile. Only I can reprogram you, so at one point or another will come crawling back to me. Why resist?" A voice whispered in my ear. His voice whispered in my ear.

I jolted awake and activated the blaster installed into my arm. Pointing it forward I readied myself to fire it at whoever was in front of me.

"Hey! Woah! Woah! Calm down, boy! Every thing's alright!" Phineas shouted, my blaster inches from his face, "you don't have to shoot anyone! We're all safe!"

I had to remind myself that I was no longer under His control, that I was free. I slowly lowered my arm and reverted the blaster back into a hand. I looked apologetically up at Phineas. It wasn't noon yet and I had almost hurt him twice.

"It's okay, Perry, I'm fine." He looked at me sympathetically as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I could not it feel through my metal exoskeleton.

I examined the room. Empty bookshelves, various chairs laying around the room, several desks shoved next to the wall, we were at the library. I was laid out on the information desk as I noticed that Candace was waiting at the window that looked out onto the street below. It was 9:30, obviously the representatives from the United States were running late. I could see several of the Firestorm girls strolling in between the bookcases, looking at what remained of the library's selection. Only a few days ago these shelves would have been stocked with propaganda. Phineas and Ferb were watching me intently, only about a foot away.

"Perry, stay still," a high-pitched voice with an Indian accent ordered me from behind.

I turned to see 'Doctor' Baljeet with a hand full of wires in his hand, my wires. I looked away, suddenly feeling sick. It was times like these when I was almost glad that I could hardly feel anything.

"Perry, I told you to stay still!" Dr. Baljeet reiterated to me, accidently touching two wires together, forcing my arms and legs to flail wildly around.

I glared at him, annoyed. I didn't like my wires to be played around with.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized before explaining, "you fell from pretty high up. The fall made a huge dent in your armor from the impact, and your CPU was temporarily fried; it was a good thing that Phineas and Ferb called since there was no way to tell how long your life support could have lasted without anything directly controlling it. I've managed to get it back online, but some of your operations are still not working. I've activated your basic motor abilities, but it'll take some time to get them back to normal capacity."

I noticed a large twisted hunk of metal on the floor beside the desk. I tried picking it up, but my movements were stalled by a few seconds and the first time I tried to grasp it, my hold was too weak, and it fell back to the ground. As I examined it closer I noticed that it was the back of my exoskeleton, and judging from its appearance, it had changed from convex to concave in the matter of a few seconds. It would be a trial to get it back to normal.

"What were you thinking? Jumping off of a 20 story building like that. If you weren't mostly made of metal you'd probably be dead right now."

Then I remembered. Where was the girl? Was she okay? Was she still alive? I turned to Phineas and Ferb, desperate for an answer.

"It's all right, boy." Phineas turned and beckoned to a girl hiding in the corner.

I couldn't help but sigh, grateful that she was seemingly unharmed.

As I examined her further and noticed that she was shivering. Her azure eyes were wide, transfixed on me, her lip slightly quivered, and when she came close, she grabbed Phineas' hand and held it tight. It was plain to see that she was scared, and I knew why. It was me, it was always me. Everyone knew my face, and everyone had the same reaction to meeting me. Fear... always fear and nothing else. The Resistance was the only exception, since they had felt obliged to attack. I looked away once she had placed her hand in Phineas'.

I wanted to protect her, I wanted to tell her that everything was alright, and that she's safe from all that would hurt her, but for now she saw me as a monster. No matter how much I wanted to keep her safe, I didn't want to see her face when she started to cry. I sat there, downcast and broken, waiting for the girl to shed tears in remembrance of what she had lost because of me.

I only vaguely noticed Phineas whispering something to the girl.

Something warm, almost like a sensation, slowly crept its way into my hand. What was this pleasant feeling? I looked down to find the unknown girl's hand in mine.

She looked up at me with young, innocent eyes. "You're the Platyborg?" she asked in a sweet tone, too young and nieve to know what terrible things these hands have done.

I slowly nodded. I noticed that her composure was calm, happy even, so much different that a minute before. How could she stand to be so close to me, and hold my hand with nothing more then a slight quiver?

"His name's Perry," Phineas added, his smile ever so cheerful.

"Perry the Platyborg..." the girl muttered to herself, then she looked up and continued, "Mommy always says that you're a bad, bad platypus. She told me to run away if I ever saw you. But you aren't that bad, are you?"

I didn't know how to respond to that. Is who I was who I am?

Phineas answered for me. "Of course he isn't! He's the best pet a boy could ever own! He brave, strong, and can clean his own litter box too! Sure, he keeps secrets from us, but I trust him. He may have done bad things in the past, but that wasn't our Perry. He's our best friend. He's family!"

Phineas' praise managed to crack a thin smile onto my face.

"Well, it's good to see that you're getting along," a deep voice spoke from behind us. We turned to see Major Francis Monogram. "Good to see you Phineas, Ferb, Agent P," he addressed, nodding to each of us in turn.

Why did he call me by that title, even now? I am not part of the OWCA anymore. Sure, I was born into the program, and had spent all of my early years with them, but I couldn't be an agent anymore. I could only be Perry the Platyborg.

The Major must've seen something my face, and immediately apologized, "Oh, sorry! I meant to call you Perry, of course."

I sighed, rolling my eyes in his direction. How did he ever become a major with smarts like those?

"Oh, by the way, Carl told me to say 'hi,' and that he's doing much better in this new hospital outside of the Tri-state area. You know with real doctors, and medicine that actually works instead of what we have here."

Another heavy pang of guilt. Why was the Major always so dense? I didn't need any more reminder of how low I stooped. Was he just ignorant as to how Carl had gotten injured?

He must've been at least able to read my face because he apologized again, "Oh! Sorry, was I not supposed to bring that up?"

I gave him an exasperated look.

"Right. In any case where're the representatives from the United States? I thought we were going to make some treaty with them." He noted, looking around.

"We are. They're late, and so are you." I turned to see Isabella stepping out from behind one of the bookcases.

"Sorry about that, Isabella. I was helping to clear the debris from when we destroyed the Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc. building, and I lost track of time."

"Well, at least you're here now," Candace said before Isabella could interject. "And since everyone's here let's take our seats."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone in the room saluted Candace as they arranged themselves around the large table in the center of the room.

Candace sat at the head of the table closest to the door. To her left was Ferb, and her to right, Isabella. Down Isabella's side sat the six Firestorm Girls. Phineas grabbed my hand and dragged me to the table, much to Dr. Baljeet's and my dismay as a good number of wires were ripped out of his hand and myself. I waddled behind Phineas who sat on the other side of Ferb. I tried my best to squat down on the chair next to Phineas in a position that Dr. Baljeet could work on me in, who of course took the seat next to me. Next to him was an empty seat where Buford would have sat, but obviously he was 'resisting' us again. The little girl later stole this chair. At the end of the row sat Major Monogram. We decided to sit on the side closest to the door so that if things went sour during discussion the Americans wouldn't be able to get out that easily, while we could. Also, they would have to walk past a row of children in order to get to their seats, children who would willingly take up arms and fight at any moment to protect their families. Once they had seen all that only then could they see the only real adult in the room. If we were lucky, they might even know the Major, since he was the one who set up the meeting. Once everyone sat down and got comfortable we started to wait.

.~.

Tension lay thick in the air. It had been an hour and they were still late. Everyone talked to each other in hushed voices. What could they possibly be doing? Could they have forgotten? Rescheduled? Given up on us?

Finally, the doors slowly opened, and a group of six or so people came in. They all surrounded a defeated looking man as they muttered words of encouragement to him.

"I'm sure she's okay. After the meeting, we'll go out and search for her some more." I caught one woman saying to the man.

He grunted a word of thanks as he reached the far side of the table. "I'm sorry for being late. Something came up and we couldn't make it on time." He didn't look up as he spoke, and instead he picked at the paint on the table.

"Daddy?" the little blond haired girl wondered aloud.

The man paused for a moment before shaking his head and going back to picking at the table

"Daddy? Why are you sad?" the girl asked.

The man looked up, stunned at what he saw. "Melissa?" the question hung in the air as if his eyes were deceiving him. Then his face burst into a broad grin. "Melissa!" He practically shouted, running around the table to hug the girl, Melissa presumably.

"Daddy!" Melissa exclaimed, practically jumping into the man's arms, "I've missed you, Daddy. Mommy said that you aren't allowed to come home anymore, that it was against the rules."

"Well, the law changed. Now I can finally come home," the man explained, "but, look at you! How you've grown!" He clutched the girl tightly to his chest, smothering her with love.

"Jonathan..." one man addressed the parent.

"I was so worried about you when I couldn't find you," the man kept doting.

"Jonathan."

"You have no idea how much I missed you."

"Jonathan!"

"What!"

"We should start the meeting, these kids have been waiting for us for over an hour." the man told him.

"Oh, right!" He turned to us and apologized, "I'm sorry, my name's Jonathan Adina, I'm Melissa's father. I used to live here, in Danville, but once Doofenschmirtz came to power, no one was let in or out of the city. I was on a business trip at the time, so I was locked out. Sorry if my daughter caused you any problems."

"Not a problem at all, Mr. Adina." Candace told the man.

"Daddy, he saved me from a Normbot!" Melissa exclaimed pointing at me.

Jonathan turned his attention to us. His eyes were a vivid shade of blue, just like Melissa's, and sharply contrasted with his black hair. "Really? I thought that all the Normbots were destroyed." He stood up and walked up to Phineas. "Thank you, little boy, for protecting my daughter. What's your name?"

Phineas blinked cluelessly for a few seconds before shaking his head and saying, "no, sir, it wasn't me. I'm Phineas, but my pet platypus, Perry, is the real hero. He's one one that helped your daughter." He held out his hand and pointed at me, pride evident on his face.

Everyone turned to stare. This is what I wanted the least. I squirmed uncomfortably in the silence. I attempted to smile, hoping that everyone would look away.

"You..." a familiar voice uttered, breaking the silence.

I gulped. It couldn't be...

"You son of a bitch!" the voice shouted.

"Mr. Robins! There are children here! Watch your mouth!" a woman in the group scolded the man.

"Shut up Beatrix! It's him!" the man continued.

There was no doubt in my mind of who it was, but I still had to make sure. I turned to look at the man. He was stout, he had graying brown hair, and light brown eyes tinted with green, he had gained a few pounds in the past few years, but what bothered me the most about this man was the cane he held and the limp he walked with. There was no denying it. It was Benjamin Robins.

"It's the thing that broke my legs!" he accused.

I looked down at my lap, ashamed. What he said was true and there was no way I could dismiss it.

"Don't pretend that you can't hear me! I know that you understand what I'm saying!" He limped over to me. It was painful to watch. "What are you doing here? I thought that all scum like you was cleared out of here." He pressed his face close to mine. "Yet you have the nerve to show up here, at this meeting. What are you? A slave to whoever has the power in this sad, sad little area?"

I wanted to look away, I wanted to hide, I wanted to run from here and be forgotten. On the other hand every circuit in my body screamed at me to hit this man and give him what he deserved. I couldn't do either and instead just froze in place, unable to do anything.

"Benjamin!" Jonathan ordered, "You are going too far! Can't you see you're bothering him!"

I didn't deserve to be protected.

"Good. Then maybe he'll learn to regret his actions, and get what he deserves." Taking his cane he hit me across the face.

It stung, and I predicted that it would leave a bruise on my flesh, but no one would see it from under my fur. I could almost smile. Finally, someone was going to make me pay for my sins. I would gladly accept a thousand blows from this man if it meant forgiveness.

He pulled his cane back for another blow, but someone stopped him. Candace grabbed the end of his cane as everyone else watched, stunned by the scene.

"That is enough, Mr. Robins!" Candace ordered.

Why did she protect me?

"I understand how you must feel, but this is not the time or the place to fight over what happened in the past."

She didn't have to...

"We came to you asking for peace and forgiveness, and since you are here now it shows that you have acknowledged our plea."

Why wasn't I doing anything to stop her?

"Don't ruin this by getting your personal grudge involved."

Of course. It was for the sake of politics. If this man kept going he could upset the rest of the representatives, and the mission could fail.

"If you want, you can deal with this outside, but only after the meeting is done. Do you understand?" Candace commanded.

Benjamin looked at the teenage girl, who spoke in words beyond her years, with a disgusted glare. He lowered his weapon and growled, "fine. If you want to protect that thing go ahead. Don't complain to me when he betrays you, your trust, and your family."

"I won't." Her eyes fell on me momentarily from behind her dark shades. "After all, he already has." She turned to peer at Phineas and Ferb, a smile fluttering on her lips. "But nevertheless he is still family."

Everyone took their seats and the meeting started.

.~.

I didn't care much for talk, so I just zoned in and out of the conversation, only getting bits and pieces of information here and there. Besides, if I really wanted to listen I could always do so later by going back into my data bank to re-watch what was happening. I couldn't even interject, so this entire meeting, while being important to the future of the Tri-State area, wasn't very relevant to me. I slowly began to drift off to sleep as they were starting to ask how we had gotten our freedom, a story I remembered as if it was yesterday.

.~.

"What are you doing here?" a voice echoed in my head.

What am I doing? What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a nap until this meeting wraps up.

"No. What are you doing here, among the enemy?" the voice asked.

Enemy? There's no enemy here. Just a bunch of kids.

"They are the enemy." the voice told me.

Them? The enemy? How could they? They're kids. They're my... family.

"You never had a family. You only ever had me." the voice made me feel warm and safe from everything around me.

Really? But they're kind to me. They treat me fairly and protect me like a family would.

"They're lying. You are nothing more to them than an object. A prize to be won." the voice tried to convince me.

No I'm not. They care for me.

"Then why did they let that man hurt you?"

Because I deserved it.

"Did you really? What have you ever done to deserve it?"

I traumatised their mother to start, then I broke that man's...

"No. Those were done under orders. What did YOU do to deserve it?"

I... I don't know... Why do you ask?

"I think It's time to deliver some fair punishment, don't you?" The voice sounded terribly familiar.

... Who are you?

"Who am I? I am you." The voice was lying.

No, really, who are you?

The voice broke into laughter. "I am you. I am your master. I am..." The voice paused for a moment to let everything sink in. "Doofenschmirtz."

.~.

My eyes flew open. What a bad dream... Was it a bad dream? I couldn't remember. I looked around in confusion. Where was I? These weren't my quarters. Was I being held prisoner? Apparently not. I wasn't bound to anything. Where was I? I looked out the window, but could not see any sign of my master's building. My GPS system said that I was in the library, but where were all the books? The shelves were completely devoid of any Doofenschmirtz regulated propaganda.

"Perry?" A young voice asked me.

I turned to see a boy with an unnaturally triangular face looking at me. What was that in his eyes? Concern? Pity? I scanned the area some more. Was that the leader of the resistance with her two little brothers? Was it that sniveling coward Benjamin Robins? Were those the the firestorm girls? Why yes, yes they were.

I may have not known where I was or what I was doing, but now I was compelled by a single order. Attack.

**(A/N: You want to know something. I actually didn't initially intend for the little girl to be anyone special or specific. I just needed someone for Perry to save. Now I actually gave her an identity. Remember the little girl from 'We Call it a Maze?' This is her.**  
><strong>I need some help. For the next chapter I'm considering putting a flashback of what happened to Carl, Linda, and most pressingly Pinky. I want your feedback.<strong>  
><strong>I'm sorry that I have now strayed into OC land. A land that I now try to avoid like the plague. I just hope that they help the story along somewhat and don't completely annoy you.<strong>  
><strong>Please read, review, and critique. I really want to know everything you have to say about this!)<strong>

**(Edit: urrr yeah... if you got this in the first few minutes of posting, I'm sorry for the funky formatting, I think I fixed it... tell me if I didn't)  
><strong>


	3. Dreadful Joy, Wonderful Sorrow

Part 3: Dreadful Joy, Wonderful Sorrow

**(A/N: Whoohoo! I'm able to post today because of a snow day! I love my state!**

**Just thought I'd warn you that this starts from Phineas' point of view. Didn't want anyone confused by that. Also I really suck... SUCK at writing action sequences, so sorry if this chapter is rather lackluster.)**

Perry unexpectedly bestirred himself. Just a minute ago he was drifting off to sleep. After all, it had been a long day for him, and he deserved some rest. Besides, we would be able to take care of everything until he woke up. He had just dozed off for a few minutes when he just thrust himself awake. He looked around as if lost and confused.

"Perry?" I whispered to him, as not to interrupt the meeting.

He turned to look at me. The glint in his eyes was alien. This wasn't our Perry. He examined me with an icy cold glare. It was as if I was just a sack of meat to him, a stranger. Then he turned to the rest of the group. A few seconds of scanning, and a brutal grin etched its way across his face. I couldn't help but notice his hand clutching itself into a fist.

Dr. Baljeet gave out an annoyed grunt and gave Perry a slight smack on the back of his head. "Perry, stay still!" he irritatedly grunted.

Perry turned, his face was set into a mask of wrath. Faster than I could comprehend, Perry smacked Baljeet across the room.

Baljeet only had a moment to scream before he was rendered unconscious, colliding with a bookshelf. The bookshelf toppled over, backwards from the impact.

The meeting came to an abrupt halt as everyone turned to Perry and the senseless Baljeet.

Perry twisted his head to the rest of us. The expression on his face was nonchalant, almost as if nothing important happened.

"Baljeet!" I shouted to him, knowing that he wouldn't respond. I turned to Perry. "What'd you do that for!"

Perry glanced at me for a brief moment. His glare was not human, it did not hold that glint of intelligence and emotion that was his. His usually warm, accepting, brown eyes were now dead and bitter. Then I remembered where I saw that expression before. This wasn't Perry. This was the Platyborg.

His eyes moved from me to Candace, and locked themselves onto her position.

"Perry... What's gotten into you?" I asked myself, hoping that he would hear me. I tried to get in front of him, right in between him and Candace. "Perry! What's happened to you? Tell me what's wrong!" I pleaded.

"Phineas!" Candace shouted.

As I turned to look at her, the Platyborg smacked me across the face, causing me to stumble back a few paces in shock. His expression as he did it was calm, and collected, almost happy. He only had one focus, and that was Candace.

Platyborg stared at her, like some sort of predator stalking its prey.

Candace stood up, readying herself for any attack. Only two words were said, "Bring it."

The Platyborg pounced, sending himself flying at Candace.

The second he got into range she pulled out her bo staff and knocked him out of the sky with it.

He rolled to a clean halt. Looking up, he smiled, his face amused. He was enjoying this.

"Gretchen!" Isabella ordered, "Take Phineas and Ferb and find somewhere safe to hide for the moment. Monogram! Protect the representatives, Holly and Milly will help you. Ginger! Go see if Baljeet's okay. Katie! Protect Melissa. Adyson! We're going to back Candace up. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" half of the room shouted back, running to their positions.

Chaos ensued, children were giving orders, everything was a hectic mess, as the Firestorm Girls and Major Monogram ran to follow their orders.

"Phineas, Ferb!" Gretchen yelled, coming over to us. "It would be best if we got out of here right now! There's only one exit..."

"Wait, a minute," I interrupted her, thinking out loud for a moment, "if there's only one exit, won't we get crowded on the way out?"

"Well..." She started.

"And since there's only one exit can't Perry keep us from getting out by blocking it?" Ferb asked.

"I suppose..."

"And can't he hear everything we've just said?" I wondered, glimpsing over at the fight.

In response the Platyborg glanced at us and harshly grinned. Parrying one of Candace's blows, he stepped only a few paces backward to block the double doors, the only exit in the room.

Gretchen glared at us. "Good job, geniuses. Now nobody can get out."

We tried to back away as far from the fight as possible. We tried to get cover from behind the bookshelves.

Isabella, wielding a jump rope like a whip, and Adyson, pulling out a set of brass knuckles, jumped into the fray. Candace came from the front, Isabella from the left and Adyson to the right. Candace came at him first, swinging her staff from above, aimed directly at his head. He sidestepped, the staff completely missing him and smashing into the ground instead, leaving the carpet torn where it hit.

Isabella swung the rope at the Platyborg, which wrapped its way around one of his hands. But, the Platyborg took the rope, Isabella still holding to the other end, wrapped it around his hand, gaining a firm grasp on it. He then swung it to the side, taking Isabella by surprise, and forcing her to go with the rope, straight into Adyson.

Candace, interpreting this as an opportunity to attack, swung her pole from the side, forcing the Platyborg to duck at the last minute, where Candace was readying a kick. Platyborg unraveled the rope from around his hand, and blocked Candace's kick with his tail. Holding both ends of the rope in one hand, he lashed out at Candace with it. It struck her left arm. Candace stumbled back a few paces, trying to swallow the pain as she held her right hand to where he hit. When she removed her hand there was a purple colored welt left. The Platyborg took this pause in action to tangle the rope around the doorknobs, trapping everyone inside.

Next to us we heard a groan. It was Dr. Baljeet, he was waking up.

"Baljeet! Are you okay?" Ginger cried.

Dr. Baljeet put two fingers over his lips and groaned, "don't shout, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

We all nodded.

"I think I may have a plan that can defeat Perry." He muttered in little more than a whisper.

We all glanced at the fight, where the Platyborg grabbed Adyson's fist, and was getting ready to throw her across the room, when Isabella, now using a baton, narrowly missed a blow to his body, but in exchange forced him let Adyson go. At this point they could use any help they could get.

"Well? What is it?" Gretchen asked.

Dr. Baljeet looked at me and beckoned me closer. I leaned in, and putting his lips to my ears he whispered, "Phineas, his back is still open. If you can land a single solid blow to it, you may just be able to cause him to temporarily shut down."

I looked at him, wide-eyed. "Why are you asking me to do this? Ask one of the Firestorm girls, or Ferb to do it."

He shook his head. "No, only you have the courage to stand up to him. You have to do this."

"And what happens if it doesn't work? What happens if he doesn't shut down?"

"It will work. I believe that you can do it. If it doesn't shut him down, it should at least stun him." Dr. Baljeet reached down and pulled out a considerably large wrench from one of his over sized pockets. "Here, use this. It's not much of a weapon, but it should do the job." He held it out to me.

Taking it, I nodded. "So, I just have to wait until he's distracted and shows his back to us?"

Baljeet nodded, and with that, he blacked out again.

Clutching the wrench tightly to my chest, we turned to watch the fight.

How was I supposed to get behind him. Just charging wouldn't work. Could I circle around to approach him from behind? There wasn't sufficient enough cover to go unnoticed. He was facing us, but how could we get him to turn around?

Isabella and Candace came at him from the right while Adyson came from the left. Isabella tried swinging her baton down, which he easily sidestepped, where Candace was waiting, to stab at him. The Platyborg turned another 90˚ to avoid the blow. Adyson tried to punch him mid-turn, but he was able to grab her wrists and fling her over his head, where Isabella caught her.

What luck! He was turned around. Now was my time to act. I ran into the fight, wrench clasped in both hands and held over my head. I screamed a battle cry as I readied myself to strike his back.

The Platyborg turned, surprise evident on his face. But, at the last second, he was able to turn far enough to grab one of my arms and sling me into the door.

"Phineas!" Candace exclaimed, "what do you think you're doing!"

I gasped for the breath that was knocked out of me. Once I had somewhat composed myself, I responded, "don't worry! I have a plan."

She sighed. "Okay, but it better work. I couldn't live with myself if you got badly injured like this."

I tried standing, but that blow had taken the strength out of my legs. As I tried to balance myself I noticed that the Platyborg had started to aggressively protect his back. He must've caught on to what his biggest weakness was, but so did Candace, Isabella, and Adyson.

After a few minutes, I regained the strength to fight. Candace took notice, and the three made their formation. Candace took his left, Isabella his front and Adyson his right. All three charged at once, weapons ready to strike.

He caught Candace's bo staff in one hand, Adyson's fist in the other, while he hopped over Isabella's sweeping baton. I attacked from behind, cutting the wrench through the air as I aimed at his back. Perfect! He couldn't block or dodge, there was no way he could avoid my strike! As that thought sprung into my head, something got in my way. His tail. No... I had forgotten about that.

I watched Candace's eyes grow wide in surprise, but she didn't give up. Wrenching her staff out of his hand, Candace stuck it between his tail and back. She held the pole tightly with her right hand and used her left to force the tip into the Platyborg's back.

Electricity sparked out and I fell back, so that I wouldn't be shocked. The Platyborg fell to the ground, winded. Candace, Isabella and Adyson pulled back to see what would happen. The Platyborg was stunned for a few seconds, before getting back on his feet. He took a step forward, then collapsed, fainting.

We all took a relieved breath, the fight was over, at least for a few minutes, but we couldn't relax just yet. We still had to figure out what happened to Perry to make him attack us, and try to find a cure.

It was Milly who asked what we all were thinking. "Well, now what?"

I looked around. The doors were tied shut, we had six representatives to take care of, the former general of Doofenschmirtz's army was knocked out, in the middle of the room, the doctor was unconscious, three girls were possibly injured, an none of us knew what to do.

"Perhaps, we could try getting the doors open, since I assume no one wants to jump down a story to get out." Katie suggested.

"I'll see if I can wake Baljeet up," Ginger called, "maybe if we wake him up, he can find out what's wrong with Perry."

We were all about to agree when a voice said, "You'll see what's wrong with Perry? What are you? Insane?" It was Mr. Robins. "Did you just see that, or are you just stupid! That thing attacked us! What are you doing, being concerned about that thing? Just kill it!"

"Mr. Robins! Be more considerate towards the children. They just saved our lives. Let them handle it," the woman that Mr. Robins earlier called Beatrix tried to resolve.

"It's none of your business!" Mr. Robins shouted, but he was interrupted before he could start ranting on again.

"And it's none of yours either, Benjamin." Mr. Adina shut the man up before turning to me turned to me. "I'm sorry, Phineas, but I don't think some of us are up to speed on what is going on."

"Yeah! Like what's the general of Doofenschmirtz's army doing, helping you kids?" one man in the group blurted out.

"And why did he just attack us now? I thought he was on our side!" a woman testified.

We all looked at each other, wondering what to do.

Candace stepped forward. "Fine, we'll tell you, but the following conversation never happened. We are about to tell you some top secret information, as well as a story you may not believe. Wether you think we are lying or not is up to you, but this is the true story of what happened."

The group of representatives blinked at us in confusion.

"The story really starts about six years ago, when we got our pet platypus, Perry..."

We told them everything. About how Perry was a secret agent, before loosing himself to Doofenschmirtz, becoming his slave, about how alternate versions of ourselves came from another dimension, about how different the other Tri-State area was, about the rescue, the fight, and about the downfall of Doofenschmirtz. In the time it took to tell, we were able to coax Baljeet awake, and get him back to fixing Perry. Once our story was done the representatives looked more confused than ever.

"So, what happened after that?" one man asked.

"We took control of the Tri-State area. We have been trying to rebuild the community from what Doofenschmirtz left us. As for the other dimension, we got a note from their Perry a few days after the event saying that everyone got their memories erased, to keep the agency from being discovered, and that O.W.C.A. members couldn't interfere with events in our dimension. Everything is apparently going well in their dimension, though their Doofenschmirtz can't seem to find his toy train from when he was a child." Candace finished explaining.

"Do you know why the Platy... I mean Perry attacked us?" a woman asked.

"No, but something might have happened at the top of the building where he found Melissa," Dr. Baljeet suggested, "perhaps a virus or something got into his system, or whatever makes Perry follow Doofenschmirtz's orders got reactivated."

We all sat in silence as minutes slowly ticked by. Everyone's mind was trying to understand what was just said, and the ones who understood, just couldn't bring themselves to speak.

After a while we heard the mechanical whirr of gears rotating. We turned to see Perry siting up. He put a hand to his temple as if he had a headache.

"Perry?" I asked, clutching the wench tightly hand, ready to defend myself if he attacked.

He looked up at me for a few seconds as if he was trying to identify my face. Slowly, horror etched itself onto his face. As he looked around, his face looked more and more terrified at everything he saw.

Before anyone could say a word, he broke for a window, wings spread. Smashing through the glass as if it had no more resilience than paper, he leaped out of the building, and soared into the sky.

"Perry!" I shouted after him, running to the shattered window. I looked down at the ground from the broken opening, there was no way I was going to jump down that far to chase after him. "Gretchen, help Katie and me open the doors. I have to go after him!" I frantically ordered her.

"You can't order me..." Gretchen started.

"Just do it," Candace commanded. With that Gretchen didn't say another word.

"What's the point! Can't you see that he abandoned you? He going to crawl back to Doofenschmirtz, and condemn you all!" Mr. Robins claimed. "This is what you get for helping that..."

He was silenced by a punch to the face. "You just do not get it," Ferb spoke to the surprise of everyone, "couldn't you see his face? He was not scared of us, he was scared of himself! He didn't fear that he had been captured, he was afraid of what he had done to us! Can't you see? He hates himself! He is forced to do things that would make other people go insane, and he can't escape it! Everything around him reminds him of it, and he can't run away even if he tried! He thinks that he is a monster, and all he wants is for the people he wronged to forgive him." Tears welled in his eyes. "Every night he has nightmares. He remembers every single detail of what he has done. I can tell that he thinks that the world would be a better place if he were dead. But that's not true... That's not true... We love him... And we would be lost without him."

"Ferb..." Isabella came up behind him.

Ferb turned to her, tears still leaking from his eyes. He readied himself to accept punishment for speaking out against a representative, against orders from his sister.

"Good job, soldier. He deserved it. Now, let's help them get those doors open," Isabella told Ferb, motioning to us, taking his hand.

Ferb smiled and blushed, he didn't get praise that often. The two came to help us with the door.

Mr. Robins was stunned. He was just lectured by a little boy. Candace came up to the corpulent man, disgust evident on her face.

"The letter from the other Perry also said something else." Candace told him, "He wrote, 'I know that the situation in your area is now difficult, but please take care of the me in your dimension. If I was in his position, I would be ashamed of my failure. I would hate myself for ever being used as anyone's puppet. Tell him that, who he was, is not who he is, that what he could have been is not who he has become, and that no matter what, to not give up. Since he is me I know that he is a good person, and that the solution will come to him in time. It always does.'" Candace paused. "No matter what happens we can't just leave Perry. He may look a little different than when we first got him, but he's the Perry we love. He's a part of our family, and nothing, not even Doofenschmirtz, can change that fact. Of course how could you ever understand that?"

"Sir! We got the doors open!" Isabella informed her.

"Good job, solider. Let's go find Perry."

With that we all left the library.

~.~.~.~.~.

What have I done? What happened? I attacked Baljeet, I attacked Phineas and then to top it off, I fought against Candace, even assaulted Isabella and Adyson in the process. I attacked Phineas... I felt sick with myself. If they had given me the chance I would have killed them. Not only did I put them in jeopardy, but I put the negations at risk as well. I had to get away. I couldn't keep putting them in danger, but where was I supposed to go? I looked down at the city below. People ran away as they saw me in the sky.

I noticed that something felt wrong with my wings. While it didn't interfere with my flying at the moment, it could cause problems if I kept going for too long. Maybe it would be better if I crashed into the ground, but then again I could accidentally hurt someone while falling. Besides, my programming would never allow me to do that.

Where was I supposed to go? I wanted to go somewhere dark, and quiet. Somewhere secret, where I could be safe from myself. Then again, I was bound by law to go home.

Something went off in my head, almost making me fall out of the sky, but I caught myself. There was such a place that I knew. I wondered if it was still there. I steered myself towards Maple Drive. I was going back to my base.

**(A/N: I hate how I can't write action. Hope that it didn't confuse you too much. Then again I didn't expect for it to be that long...**

**Quite the speech Ferb gave wasn't it? Does that qualify as Ferb X Isabella subtext? XD Hey, I tried! This isn't supposed to be romantic.**

**I think I'm starting to sense a pattern in this fanfic... Perry wakes up, Perry angst's, Perry fights, Perry gets knocked out, repeat! XD Well in the next chapter Perry won't be knocked out per say~ Now a question for you! First, what do you think happened to Pinky? Second, how do you think Perry would react if he saw Doofenschmirtz again?**

**Coming up next! Perry goes to his lair and remembers some very unfortunate things!**

**Please read, review, and critique! I want to hear what you have to say! One more review and I'll have the most I've had for something on this site!)**


	4. When I was Here Last

art 4: When I Was Here Last...

**(A/N: Heh, would you look at that. Four parts already, especially since this was originally supposed to be a one-shot. Over ten thousand words and I still have at least two more parts to go... I'm impressed with myself, truthfully... I think that this is the longest thing I've ever written! Well, I have a WIP for another P&F fic, but it's a page shorter! Well, let's get this train wreck moving!**

**Oh, and also, I thought I'd warn you... I have some... urrr... how to put this nicely... what some would consider... torture... and stuff... in this chapter. So... just be on your guard...)**

I landed on the empty driveway of the Flynn-Fletcher household. I gazed up at the house and realized that it had been a long time since I was alone on this property. How many years had it been? Three? Four? Still, a very long time.

I stepped onto the front porch, raking my brain, trying to remember any of the hidden entrances into my former lair. I could only remember one. I opened the front door which, to my surprise, was unlocked. I guessed that either they forgot to lock it, or that there was nothing worth protecting in the house to keep it locked up. As I stepped into the dead silent house I thought that it must've been the latter.

I crept into the hallway, closing the door behind me. It was so peaceful in here. All that could be heard was the ticking of clocks, and the occasional drip from the kitchen faucet. I relished in the stillness of the house for a moment before reminding myself that people could be showing up at any moment, disrupting this peace.

I padded into the living room, and over to the couch. Well actually, not so much to the couch, but the family portrait set above it. Setting the picture aside, I examined the wall behind it. The wall was smooth, and looked like any other wall in the house, at first glance that is. I examined the wall closer, and sure enough, there it was, a thin line. Touching the line, I followed the slender cut in the wallpaper down, and eventually touched a small indentation in the wall. The indent curved into a circle, with the line as its diameter.

Replacing my forefinger with a scalpel-like blade, I cut away the wallpaper covering what I remembered as an entrance to the base below this house. Once I tore away the paper I saw a metal plate that was cut into two pieces down the middle, set into the wall. In past times this would open automatically to let whoever was using it, but it didn't appear to be working anymore. I dug my fingers into the line and managed to separate the two halves, forcing them into the wall. However, once I made the opening large enough to fit through, I did not see a hole stretching into the wall, but several boards of plywood crudely nailed into the circular opening. I paused for a moment, wondering where these boards came from, who nailed them there, and why. I wrenched the boards from their places in the wall, and finally got the results I was looking for. A dark hole extended before me, going into the wall a small ways before arching down into the darkness of the underground.

Having no reason for leaving evidence behind, I pushed the boards and torn wallpaper into the hole, before crawling into it myself. Just as I was about to slip down into the tube, I grabbed the portrait and tried my best to hang it back onto the wall.

I slid down the pipe where it quickly consumed me in darkness. A familiar feeling of skidding overcame me with each and every twist and turn of my descent. I quickly noticed that the tubes were shaky, unstable, and in some places, rough. In more than one spot on the ride, I truly felt glad that my bottom was made of metal now, and could not feel pieces the broken pieces of the tube, or small segments that were disjointed as I slid over them. Every once in a while light shown into the tube and I could catch a glimpse of the mines that ran under the city. The mines actually served more than one purpose when they were running. Not only were they used for collecting raw materials, but they also aided in the finding, capture, and disposal of any and all O.W.C.A. agents. As I plummeted down, through the pipes, I began to remember the last time I had used this entrance. It was one of the last times I truly did anything as 'Perry.'

As I came to a clean landing I began to remember the last day I was truly free.

.~.

It was a warm summer day, just like any other day in July. I had been called into my lair by my superior, Major Monogram. I used that exact same entrance, and sat down to listen to the Major's debriefing. However, I wasn't paying attention. I already knew what my mission would be. Ever since I had been assigned a nemesis, my missions always ended up being the same, "stop Doofenschmirtz."

.~.

I walked off of the landing and looked around at the deserted lair. It was almost exactly as I remembered it. All of the devices were still arranged beside the walls, leaving the floor open. The most prominent thing the room was a large screen and the chair placed into the floor before it. The screen was now cracked with age, and dust lay heavy throughout room.

Looking up at the screen, I remembered Monogram's face on it. Perhaps, if I had paid attention to what he said on that day I would have expected the army of robots waiting for me there. Perhaps, I would have never lost to that man. Perhaps, I would have never gone through the accident that should have killed me. Perhaps, I never would have become a cyborg. I closed my eyes and remembered that day.

.~.

That man grinned harshly at me, satisfied with his trap before going on to explain his plan. When he turned his back to me, I managed to wiggle my way out of the trap. The moment after he revealed the entirety of his plan, I tried to attack him, but he turned back around and ordered his Normbots to stop me. I fought against them valiantly for so long, but there were so many of them, and only one of me. I couldn't hold out against them forever, and I didn't realize how close I was to the balcony. They drove me back, and before I knew it, I was standing on the edge, right in between an army of robots and a drop that meant certain death. I tried to keep my ground, I really did. They were too strong, there were too many, I didn't know how to fight against them, and I had reached my limit. I finally came to the realization that it was either destroy these robots, or bust. I had one final stand, and took five or six robots with me, but that wasn't nearly enough.

One robot's punch knocked me over the edge. I had been stunned by the hit for only a second, but it was a second that I didn't have. I plummeted to the ground, hoping that I wouldn't hit anyone at the bottom. I would have deployed a parachute, but that man did the smart thing, and took it from me as well as anything else that I could have used against him.

I was flying. I was weightless. Nothing could rob me of that freedom. With those last few seconds I hoped that the other O.W.C.A. members would be able to defeat that man for me. I knew that it wouldn't have been too hard. The 'Normbots' as he called them, were big, clumsy, and uncoordinated. While there were a lot of them, they could not work together, that man had a hard time controlling them, and as long as he was the sole leader of them, he wouldn't be able to defeat the O.W.C.A. After all, dictators haven't willingly gone onto the front line in a long time. That is why they have generals. That man stood no chance, being alone, at the top. I smiled. It was the last true, honest smile of Perry the Platypus. As long as I knew that man would not win, I could die in peace.

However, I had one, heavy regret. I never got the chance to truly protect Phineas and Ferb. I hoped that they would be happy with whatever they would do when I was gone. I hoped that whoever would replace me in the Flynn-Fletcher family would treat them well. It was a shame they never did find out about the secret me.

I hit the ground and felt no more. I must have died that day. No... I did die that day. There was no doubt about it. And yet, somehow, I was brought back to life. I was reborn, so to say.

.~.

The moment that I opened my eyes, I knew that I didn't belong. I was supposed to be dead, but I was still breathing. I didn't know how it was possible. Actually, I didn't truly know anything. I could remember nothing. Not a single face, not a single word spoken to me, not even my name. As I heard voices around me talk excitedly, I tried to remember something, anything. I could remember a feeling of falling, but other than that there wasn't anything.

"Now, let me see my patient," a voice cut through the rest of the noise, almost as if it was resonating within my own head. I tried to sit up, but I found that I couldn't move, then again there was no reason to. A man leaned over me. Black lab coat, messy brown hair, and an eyepatch over his left eye completed his strange appearance. "Can you hear me, Perry the Platypus?"

Looking up at this man I nodded, at least I could still move my head. I didn't know what it was, but this man felt familiar, while at the same time, he made me feel on edge.

"Can you sit up?" he asked me.

I shook my head. Who was this man?

"Okay, now give me a second," the man moved out of my field of vision for a minute before saying, "and there! Good as new!"

I felt something connect, and I found that I could move. I sat up and looked at the man. I had so many questions to ask him, but when I opened my mouth, not a single word came out, only a strange growling sound.

Nevertheless, the man responded. "What is it? Oh, you're probably wondering where you are and what's going on. Well, you see, after you had that little 'accident' the other day I brought you back here, to my lab. I wanted to conduct an experiment to save your life. And, as you can tell, it was a success! Just look at yourself!" He pointed to a mirror in the room.

What I saw in it was... unnatural. A strange combination of metal and flesh stared back at me. Was this me? I approached the glass. The figure inside it perfectly matched my movements. I stared at it. It stared back. I blinked my right eye, it blinked its left. A strange feeling worked its way through me, and I hated it. How could this be me? What was I? As I stared deeper into the mirror, a single word came into the forefront of my mind to describe the image I saw... 'prisoner.'

With disregard to what may happen next, I punched the glass. It shattered, distorting my reflection. I drew my hand back, and punched the looking glass again, and again, and again, I noticed a red liquid starting to splatter across the mirror, and I knew that it was blood. My blood. I didn't care. I punched again and again until...

"Stop that right now!" The man ordered.

I paused, and I couldn't explain why. I wanted to destroy all traces of that image. Why was I stopping for that man?

"Now, Perry the Platypus, look at what you did to my mirror. I'll have to replace it. I know that you may be upset about being forced to work for your nemesis and all, but..."

What? Forced? Nemesis? What was he talking about? I looked at the man with a confused glare. Who was he? What was I before he had done this, whatever it was, to me?

"What? You're confused?" The man asked, reading my expression.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded.

"About the nemesis thing?"

I nodded again.

He squinted at me for a long moment, his brain processing this new information. "Do... Do you remember me, at all?"

I tried to think for a second, but my memory was still a blank slate. I shook my head.

He blinked in surprise. Then a harsh smile etched its way across his face. "You have amnesia, eh? Well, I'm Heinz Doofenschmirtz, soon to be the ruler of the entire Tri-State area! And you are my loyal servant, Perry the Platyborg. You see, you had a little... incident the other day, and I had to make you... well... how you are now. Congratulations on staying alive. You are the world's first platypus cyborg."

I processed the data in my head for a few minutes, letting my brain absorb this new information. I couldn't think of any other reason to be here at the moment. Something in my head told me to respect, to honor this man. I deeply bowed to him and waited for his orders.

The man had an expression of confusion, mixed with slight pride, and possibly embarrassment, for a moment before saying, "now, there's no need to bow. How about you salute me instead."

.~.

I opened my eyes and looked up at the dead screen, now back in the present. I stepped into the center of the room as a thick layer of dust fled from my presence. It was so much like how I remembered it. It was so dark in here, yet some gossamer light still illuminated from some of the devices. It was perfect. Dead silent, dark, but not so that I would go blind, and empty. I was about to curl up on the floor when I noticed something glint on the ground next to me.

I bent down and picked up a small object from amidst the layers of dust. I tried my best to wipe it clean, squinting to see what it was. It was a trinket on some kind of leather band. It was almost like a... like a... I came to a sudden and horrible realization of what it was. It was a dog collar. I blew more dirt off of the trinket and tried to see if I could find writing on it, and sure enough, it wrote, 'Pinky.'

My mind was flooded with images and memories. How could this be? How did this get here? But I knew exactly why and how. I despaired at the collar, and let the images of the past flood my mind.

.~.

It was another beautiful summer day, the likes of which made my eyes... well... eye sting in protest. We had already taken the Tri-State area. The bureaucrats had given up the moment we to threatened wage war, possibly even genocide against the citizens of the city. We weren't bluffing either. We were well prepared to murder every last citizen on the streets if they dared to resist our authority. It was pitiful, really, watching them be so afraid of us. It was almost amusing, how they just gave up and let us take over.

The United States, of course, had a problem with that. However, we told them that if they did declare war on us, they would be going against an army that the world had never seen the likes of. We told them that we had an army of robots that were better armed and suited for battle than any normal human could ever be, an army what never had to sleep or eat, an army that wouldn't stop for anything until their master's orders were answered, an army that could be easily be rebuilt and reprogrammed as long as we could find the materials to make them, an army that was not entirely alive.

We knew that if they declared war on us, we would eventually loose, but how many soldiers would be killed over such a small piece of land? We weren't entirely sure either, but we knew that it wouldn't be good, for the United States at least. After I had kindly crushed Mr. Robins' legs, they let us have the Tri-State area, as long as we stayed within our borders. We thought that was fair enough. It was a deal.

Now that the Tri-State area was ours, that man had assigned me a very important task: to locate and eliminate all O.W.C.A. agents. At the time, I knew very little about this agency. I knew that they were a secret organization what worked for the U.S. government, and that it had been a thorn in that man's side for a long time, until his nemesis was eliminated. I also knew that these agents were constantly undercover to such an extent that not even their family would know their true identity. After tireless work, I discovered that there was a high probability that an agent lived on Maple Drive. I figured that after all that work, it was reasonable enough to go down there and see for myself how accurate I was. Plus, if I was correct in my findings, I wanted to know who we were up against.

From the moment I arrived at the street something felt oddly... familiar. I had the feeling that I had been here before. I turned to one house on the street and something felt very nostalgic about it. It had not yet been modified to that man's designs, and was painted a sunny yellow. The grass in the front yard was lush and green, and a large tree could be seen in the back. I felt something when I looked at that house. Something in the back of my mind said, 'home.' Such nonsense. I had no home. My home was wherever that man was. Something that felt like a memory almost tried to flicker into existence in an abandoned part of my mind. I looked away from the house, fearing what would come to be.

I looked at the house directly across the street from it. 'This is the one,' a different something told me from the back of my mind.

I came up to the door and forced it open. I could hear voices in what I presumed to be the kitchen.

"What was that?" an oddly familiar, female voice asked.

"Go hide in the cupboard," another female voice advised. This voice had a rather heavy, but understandable, mexican accent. It told the other person, "I'll see what it is."

A considerably tanned woman walked out of the warmly lit doorway and into the antechamber. Her eyes spread wide in terror at my presence. "Who... What are you?" she asked.

I pulled out some papers that man gave me in order to explain my purpose for being there. They read something to the effect of, 'To the residents of the Tri-State area, if you are reading this, you are suspected of harboring a secret agent on your property. This is my loyal servant, General Platyborg, I sent him here to dispose of this pest for you. If you are indeed harboring a secret agent in your household, you will not be held accountable for owning them, for you probably didn't know their true identity yourself. I have given General Platyborg permission to search your home as much as he pleases, but he shouldn't get in the way, and you can keep continuing your daily activities. However, if you resist, he's free to give you any punishment he deems necessary. This also implies for any other illegal activities you may be partaking in. Signed, your supreme leader, Heinz Doofenschmirtz.'

"I see," she responded after reading the letter. A nervous smile spread across her lips. "You are welcome to look through our house to your heart's content, Mr. Platyborg. I hope you'll find everything in perfect order." From her expression, I could easily tell that she was hiding something, but was too afraid of the consequences to refuse.

I gave the room a quick scan. Nothing too out of the ordinary. It looked like any other suburban house outside of that man's territory. I wandered from the front room to the living room without a single suspicious sight. If there was an agent here, they were good at hiding their tracks. No... I knew for certain. There absolutely had to be an agent here. I kept wandering and found myself in the kitchen. This house was so incredibly normal, it was almost maddening. Normal table, with normal counters, normal walls covered with ordinary wall paper, to match the normal floors. That was when I noticed it, the dog bowl pushed into the corner. I examined it closely. It was pink and read 'Pinky' across the front. Something almost popped into my head, again, like a memory. There was something about this bowl... this name...

"Mamá?" a small voice asked.

Turning my hand into a mace, I rotated myself to see who's voice it was, expecting an attack. Instead, I got a startled little girl with raven black hair, who could not have been any older than nine.

"It's okay, Isa. We have a guest at our house. He's with our new leader, Doofenschmirtz. His papers say that he's called General Platyborg, and that he's here to find some people that may have stowed away," the woman tried to comfort the child.

"General Platyborg?" the little girl wondered out loud.

I nodded, transforming my mace hand back into a normal hand, and offered it out to shake.

She took it and stared on in bewilderment. She looked curiously at me in such an innocent, wide eyed manner that I could almost smile, but I had work to do.

Just then something chimed into my memory. The girl was smiling, almost dreamily. She strolled over the grass to someone with hearts in her eyes.

The thought blinked out of my mind just as quickly as it had gotten there in the first place.

"Platyborg..." she muttered to herself before looking up to me and saying, "so, you're a cyborg platypus?"

I nodded.

She examined me closer, and I started to feel uncomfortable. "Perry?"

It was my turn for my eye to grow wide in shock. How could she possibly know my actual name? It was the same name that man called me when I first woke up in his lab. It was the name that man kept using on me although I wasn't sure it was mine.

She let in a gasp of air. "It is..." she almost whispered to herself.

By this time the woman had also recognized me.

"Oh, God. What did Doofenschmirtz do to you?" the girl uttered, swearing to my surprise.

I was confused. Why would these people know who I was? How could they still recognize me? How could they, unless... unless. Of course. They had to be secret agents. They were the enemy. That is how they could know. At least, that's what I thought at the time.

I wasn't going to let them escape. I decided to attack the woman first seeing as she was the more prominent threat. I easily managed to tackle her to the ground. Her daughter gave out a shrill scream that shook me to my bones as the mother yelled at her to run and find someplace safe to hide. I gave the girl one glance, and she remained still.

I rolled the woman until she was lying on her front. I placed one foot on her back, to keep her from moving. Then I grabbed one of her arms, and slowly started to pull it up, twisting her arm unnaturally above her head. I was going to force any information she may have out of her. It didn't matter to me wether she was willing to give or not.

Just before I gave her any permanent damage, I felt a shock coarse through my body. I was knocked down, onto my back for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry, Agent P, but it was for your own good," a cracked, male voice spoke.

I felt someone grab me, but I gained enough strength to throw that person off of me and half way across the room. I looked up at my newest opponent. It was a boy... no he was a bit too old to be considered a boy. It was a man with curly red hair, thick rimmed, purple glasses, and a set of braces on his teeth.

Regaining his composure, he pulled out a device that looked like a gun and fired it at me. It shot a brilliant ray of yellow tinged light that paralyzed me temporarily on impact.

Who was this man? As if in response, a memory flickered into my mind. This stranger was standing next to another man with black hair and a military uniform, the initials 'M.M.' were stitched on his front. The man with the black hair said, "you'll be working under me from now on. This is my assistant, Carl Karl, the intern." I opened my eyes, which I didn't realize were closed, to find this stranger... no... I was certain his name was Carl, and I knew him very well a long time ago. Carl was charging at me.

It was all too simple to use Carl's momentum against him, and flip him over my head. He collapsed onto his front. There was no doubt in my mind that this man was part of the O.W.C.A. Under no conditions was he to be spared, but I highly doubted that this man acted on his own behalf. Judging from the reactions of the family living at this residence, they did not know this man. The two ladies, confused, were cowering in the corner. The mother was shielding her daughter with her body. They were quivering in fear. They had no relation to this man whatsoever, and yet he was protecting them. It was very admirable of him to risk his life for complete strangers, but I still thought that he wasn't acting on his own accord. Undoubtably, if I held him captive, and alive for long enough, they would come to collect him. Then again, I did not have the time nor the initiative to take him to prison.

I placed one foot on the back of his neck, so it would be clear that if he resisted I would break him, leaving him paralyzed at the best. I pulled up one of his arms, but I had no intention of doing to this man what I was going to do to that woman. Instead, I held his wrist with one hand and elbow with the other, and then I started to bend. Carl gave out a scream of pain as the bone started to give way to my influence. I could almost feel the structure fracture from the tension I was applying to it. After a few minutes of yelling from all three of the people, the bone finally broke with a satisfying snap. Carl shrieked in agony, quivering like a leaf all over. I could tell that he was crying. I repeated the steps with the upper half of his arm and the entirety of his other arm. I was going to do the same to his legs when something curious happened.

A dog randomly strolled into the kitchen. I blinked in confusion for a moment before thinking, whatever, so what if there was one more to the audience, it was only a dog after all, a chihuahua at that. It was then when I saw something in its eyes. I had a double take, and indeed there was something in that dog's eyes. It was intelligence. I took the segment of the arm I had just broken, and bent it the opposite direction I had snapped it in, then forced it back. With each action the dog's face looked racked in pain, with sympathy. How curious.

"Don't, Agent P! It's what he wants. Don't do it," Carl begged from under my foot.

What was he talking about? I didn't need to hold down this man's neck any longer, so I used my foot to kick him onto his back. I looked from the dog back to Carl. Could they possibly be aquatinted? With a cruel smile on my face I stomped on his chest. I could feel some of his ribs break from under the weight making a few satisfying cracking sounds. I looked to the dog who flinched quite obviously. So what if it was intelligent, and not some drooling companion? What was he going to do about it? I gave the man another stomp, more bones breaking.

I was going to continue this until the man either died, or I had no more ribs to break, at which point I would go to cripple his legs. I found it miraculous that he had lasted this long. He was still alive, had the will to talk, and to resist. He kept muttering pleading words in between his screams. I was lifting my foot for a third time when something... someone knocked me over.

I jumped back onto my feet to see the dog standing on two legs. He took an attack ready position before pulling out a dark brown fedora and throwing it on. I quirked my head to the side. How curious. So, this was the secret agent I was sent out to kill.

**(A/N: I feel like I should apologize to you all about the kind of violence I have in this chapter. If you would continue reading this story I would be truly grateful to you all, but sadly it gets a bit worse before getting better...**

**Oh... and would you look at that... I have to split what I thought I could fit in one chapter into two separate parts... Well, the good news is that it won't take nearly a month for the next chapter to come out!**

**Please read, and review my story! I really want to hear what you have to say, good and bad!)**


	5. Goodbye, Dear Friend

Part 5: Goodbye, Dear Friend.

**(A/N: Is it bad for me to honestly say that I have been eager to write this chapter? I feel like a horrible person. Well, I hope you enjoy... and not run away from the results of this fight...)**

"Pinky?" the little girl asked from behind the dog standing on two legs.

The dog turned to the girl in response. She was distracting him.

Seeing this as my chance, I pounced onto him, pinning him onto the ground. I raised an arm to punch him, but he managed to land a hit on me with a paw that I neglected to keep down. I paused for an instant, with surprise, and he was able to slip from under me. Once out of my grasp, he stepped back a few paces, trying to keep his distance.

I looked up at my opponent and smirked. Now, this is more what I expected from the O.W.C.A. This was going to be fun.

I glanced back to the scared family. By this time, they had dragged Carl into their midst. They appeared determined to not let Carl get hurt anymore. Carl, on the other hand, seemed to be struggling to stay awake, and not pass out. I glared to the dog that they called Pinky. As long as we were in this house, with this family present, I had the advantage. He would have a more difficult time keeping himself alive while trying to protect these people, and judging from his actions thus far, he wasn't about to abandon them any time soon.

I switched my left hand into a mace. Pinky looked mildly surprised as an expression of dismay spread across his face. It was my turn to charge. I intended to ram Pinky into into the wall, using my superior strength to beat him.

Somehow, he managed to get under me, and threw me into the wall behind him, using my own momentum against me.

I felt myself breaking through the wall, and quickly realized that I wasn't going to go through the wall, to the room beyond, but instead I was falling down a narrow tube, into the ground below.

I had to dig the spikes of my mace into the side of the tube to slow myself down. After several more seconds of falling, I was able to finally come to a halt. Occupying as much space as I could in the tube, I began my decent back up. Luckily for me, the sides were made out of a very durable, clear plastic, and not out of something like glass, which would rain deadly crystals down on me.

After a few minutes of difficult climbing, and wondering how such a fat man like Santa Claus is able to climb up narrow passages like these, I was able to look into the kitchen.

Pinky was making sure that everyone was okay. They were working together to carry Carl out of the door.

Since I was using my left arm to dig into the side of the tube, so that I wouldn't slip, I changed my right into a blaster and fired it at the group.

I was aiming for the little girl, but she had good instincts. She was able to dodge it by a hair.

I sighed. Too bad. I missed, and it would take about a minute for my arm to cool down enough to fire again.

Pinky looked enraged. He jumped into the tunnel with me without a single glance back. He kicked me down and dislodged me from my place in the tube. We both plummeted down, into the darkness.

I took note of how I was taking the lower ground. I was at a slight disadvantage. Having no reason to stop the fight, I pushed against the walls of the tube to slow myself down. I readied my right hand, which was now taking the form of a dagger. When I could sense Pinky falling towards me, I lunged the blade to where I suspected he would fall.

Pinky was able to dodge the blade at the last second by kicking against the side of the tube, slightly changing his trajectory... Or at least mostly dodged, I noted, feeling a small trickle of blood fall on my face before Pinky kicked me back down the chute. I looked down for a second, and noticed that there was light below us.

I landed on a soft surface that absorbed the impact from my descent. The light was coming from the open doorway directly behind me, leading into the room beyond.

Pinky was diving towards me, looking like Superman in flight, one fist extended. He intended to land a hard punch on me, using the downwards force produced from falling.

I was easily able to catch his fist, swing him around, and throw him into the dimly lit room. I charged him, trying to get a blow while he was stunned, but he regained his composure quickly, and easily dodged me. I ran into the chair that was placed in front of a giant, pink screen, decorated with flowers, dominating the room. I scanned the area. We were in what appeared to be in an underground cavern. This cave was man made, judging from the walls. Bare, metal, scaffolding lined the walls, preventing the possibility of the cave collapsing.

So, this was the 'secret lair' that man had mentioned? It wasn't much, and judging from the piles of material about the room, it was still under construction.

Pinky took a few steps backwards, grabbing a metal pole from a large pile of them that extended almost half way to the ceiling. Pinky stood his ground and motioned his hand for me to come at him.

I leapt at him with such speed that it took Pinky by surprise. However, he only had to simply jab the pole into the pile of metal rods that he pulled his from, and use it as a lever to loosen the rest. It started an avalanche of falling metal that buried me with it. Pinky was able to get out of its way just in time.

When I tried to dig myself out, more poles would fill in the space I had just exposed, and leave me trapped under them.

I could hear Pinky type something frantically at the computer. A female robotic voice said in a pleasant tone, "Security system still offline." Pinky smashed his fists against the keyboard.

From under the pile of metal, I spread my wings. If I couldn't climb out, perhaps I could fly out. I launched myself up, and just before reaching the ceiling, I turned my engines off and fell back to the ground. I landed cleanly, just a few paces from where I found Pinky watching me.

His expression looked dark and concerned. Suddenly his face quirked such that it appeared that he had come up with an idea.

I stepped towards him, readying myself to attack, but it seemed that Pinky finally wanted to take the offense.

He came at me with an onslaught of attacks. The punches, kicks, and precise flailing of the rest of his limbs forced me back a few paces. He wasn't giving me any time to attack. I could only block his blows.

He forced me back, until I stood atop a web of wires, cords, and cables that were exposed in the unfinished floor. That's when it happened. Pinky slipped!

I changed my posture forward to attack, but as I moved, my feet dug into the ground beneath me. A viscous spark of electricity surged through me. The floor was electrocuting me.

I looked up at Pinky, he was exhausted, panting heavily. I finally took note of the small gash on his ear, which was oozing a steady stream of blood.

I felt a slight tingling in the back of my mind, and suddenly felt... regret for what I had done to the chihuahua in front of me. A blurry image appeared before my eyes, and something told me that it was a memory.

_If a dog could smile, that's exactly what he was doing. We gave each other a brief hug. His skin felt warm through my fur. When we let go, he saluted me. I returned the favor, and began walking away from him, waving goodbye._

I looked at the dog, still standing before me. Was this the same dog as I had in that memory? I was certain of it. While the dog before me now was much older, his features had stayed the same.

A look of surprise came across Pinky's face, and I could tell. My face told him something. He gave me small smile.

I stepped forward and held my arm to attack, but Pinky, instinctively, started to throw the cords and wires on and around me until I was wrapped in them. He ran back to the monitor, and kept typing frantically.

With each violent pull I made, a wire would break, I received a bolt of electricity, and then I would remember something.

I broke one wire. The _two of us, passing notes._

I cut through another cable. _Sitting together as Pinky ate a pile of meat, I had a rather repulsing pile of bugs._

With a snap, a cord gave way. _Fighting against each other, I let him win some of the time._

Another tear. Weaving _through an obstacle course._

I forced more cords away. _His sad face when we learned that I had been promoted, and he wasn't._

I was becoming free. The _joy of seeing each other again._

Only a few more wires left. _Sneaking across the street to hang out._

Finally, I broke free of the wires. I gazed up at the face of a friend. No. He wasn't my friend. He was an enemy of Doofenschmirtz, and anyone who opposed him, was my enemy as well. I couldn't let anything as foolish as memories get in my way.

Pinky was busy typing, and didn't move an inch when I approached him. I came at him, and clasped my fingers around his neck just as Pinky pressed 'enter' into his keyboard.

Out of nowhere, a tube appeared above us, sucking the both of us in. As we traveled down the tube, Pinky was punching me in the face, again and again. Perhaps he thought that if he hit me enough times, I would let go. A useless thought. I only had to tighten my grasp around his neck, and I would kill him.

The tube dispensed us on the floor of a new room. I accidentally let go of Pinky's neck when we both hit the ground. Pinky scrambled backwards, gasping for air as another memory began interfere with my movement.

_We were testing different vacuum tubes installed into our lairs. We tried one that went in between our bases. We fell to the ground making animal noises closest to laughter we could create._

I shook myself free of that memory. It meant nothing to me now. The only thing that mattered was Doofenschmirtz, and making him happy.

Pinky was struggling to get to a computer monitor, very similar to the one in his own lair, except this one was bordered with chrome paint.

I wasn't going to let him just waltz to the computer, and activate the security system, like in the other room. I grabbed his collar, but it quickly snapped. I glanced at it for only a second before throwing it to the ground.

Pinky tried to type some code into the machine, but it was too late for him. He turned just before I grasped his neck with my left hand. Pinky struggled against my hold for exactly one minute before he gave up, and started to become weak.

I couldn't explain why, but something in me felt like it was breaking. My other hand clawed at my metal chest. I could somehow tell that it was my heart, from under several layers of metal and wiring, still beating. It felt like someone had grabbed it and was trying to tear it from my chest. I felt another memory flicker into existence.

_Pinky passed me a note to me from under the table as a man in uniform was lecturing about how important it was to keep one's cover. I unfolded it and read, 'So, which sector do you want to work in?'_

_I pulled out a pencil and wrote down, 'I'm thinking of working under Monogram or Wanda,' and passed the note back._

_He read it over and responded, 'You want to be a field agent? Why?'_

'_I want to really protect people. I want to keep people from being hurt by someone's selfish desire. If I could keep at least one family safe, I think that everything we have done here would be worthwhile.'_

_Pinky grinned back at me. 'Then I'll become a field agent with you! That way, we can protect everyone we know. Perhaps, one day, I could help you protect that one family.'_

_I nodded. 'I like that idea.'_

I felt anguish spread throughout me. This was my very dear friend. How could I hurt him? How could I take that man's desires over the life of my friend?

I could not feel the warmth of his body through my metallic hand, but I could still sense his pulse. It was slowing, becoming more quiet by the second. I wanted to let go of his neck, but something was keeping me from setting him free. It was that man. His orders were keeping me like this.

Pinky saw something on my face and gave me one last, frail grin. Tears slowly slid down his face.

I did not know what to do. I could only stare at him, feeling as if I was watching these events from beyond a screen.

He slowly moved his arm. I almost had an automatic reaction to break it off, but I held it off long enough to watch him give me one final salute.

I returned the salute, holding it long enough to watch Pinky's arm grow limp, and fall to his side. I remained paralyzed in that stance until the lights ultimately left his eyes and his heartbeat stopped.

He was dead.

.~.

I carefully laid his body on the ground.

I... I didn't know what to do. I didn't feel anything. I was swallowed by a deep numbness that prevented me from doing anything. What should I do? What could I do? I didn't know. I felt empty, alone, and above all, lost.

I blinked and wondered why I wasn't crying. Isn't that what a person was supposed to do when a friend dies? Cry? Wasn't crying a sign of sorrow? Then again, I didn't feel sad either. Why couldn't I feel sad? Why couldn't I feel anything? Aren't friends supposed to be sad when one of them dies? I supposed that because I killed him, we weren't friends. At least, not anymore.

However, there was at least one thing I knew that I could do. I could give his family back his corpse.

.~.

I tenderly picked up his body and looked around. I knew this place. This place was so familiar. It was almost like being home. I could remember now. This was my lair. I stepped to a wall where a passage opened before me. I looked back at my lair one more time and knew... I would probably never come back.

I went into Pinky's unfinished lair, and took one of the elevators up. The cheerful tune of, 'I'm Lindana and I Wanna Have Fun' that chimed from the speakers felt like it was mocking me.

The elevator stopped and opened into the kitchen. I stepped into the warmly lit room. It was so cheerful and sunny in there, almost like nothing bad could ever happen on a day like this. Through the window, I could see a perfectly clear sky that glistened blue. It was as if the entire Tri-State area was mocking me and Pinky's death.

I couldn't hear any voices in the house. Had they left? Just as that thought occurred to me, I heard something stir in a cabinet under the sink. I automatically fired my blaster at it. The door shattered into several pieces.

I turned to the stranger inside the cabinet. It was a woman with bright, red hair and dark, blue eyes. She looked familiar, and I could feel a memory spark in the back of my mind, but I was so numb that I didn't care anymore. She was quivering like a leaf, and held her hands over her ears, trying to block the outside world from her. I felt pity for her. If she had been there the entire time, the things she heard, in combination of being completely in the dark, both physically and metaphorically, would drive most people insane. But she was the only person in the house.

I walked to her, each step I made looked like it hurt her physically. Finally, I stopped in front of the cabinet she was hiding in. I laid Pinky's body down next to her and began to walk away.

"... Perry?" I heard her ask in a little more than a whisper that was probably not intended for my ears.

I stopped and turned back around. So... she knew who I was as well. It pained me to not know who she was. I still felt lost, but I did know one thing. Who I was before, was not who I was now. I shook my head. No, I was not Perry. I couldn't be. At least, not anymore.

I left the house and flew back to the Doofenschmirtz Evil Inc. building that dominated the city. The moment I saw that man, I requested for my memory to be purged once again. I knew that as long as I had those memories, they would interfere with my work. As they say, ignorance is bliss, and if these memories hurt me, I wanted to be as ignorant as possible. So, I forgot Pinky, my friend, and could only remember the pain in my tail who defied that man, and I eliminated. And that was all I would remember of my past life. That was... until the day I became free.

.~.

I could remember that memory so clearly now, in the present. I looked back down at the collar in my hand. I was so angry with myself. Why did I come down here in the first place if I knew it would bring me this much pain?

"Oh, there you are," a voice said from behind me.

I spun around to see Candace approaching me. I gulped when I saw the purple welt on her arm. Of course I had to come back here. I had once again hurt the ones that I loved. I had to come down here to get away from them. I came down here to protect them from myself.

"We were wondering where you went," she was scolded, taking a step towards me.

I scuttled back as she approached me.

"Perry?" She took another step.

I pushed myself away from her again.

"Perry..." She walked towards me until I had scooted my way under the monitor and had nowhere else to go. She bent over and studied me.

I looked away and tried to hide myself in the shadows.

"Perry, let's stop this game." Candace looked at me, pity in her eyes.

I glanced at her, but couldn't help but notice the bruise on her arm.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. I've gone through much worse," she waved her hand as if it really was nothing, but I could still tell that it hurt her.

I turned away again.

"Perry, trust me, I've had a lot worse injuries than a mere bruise."

I could hardly stand to look at her. I felt so guilty.

"Perry... At least get out here so I can screw your back on," she requested, kneeling down to my level.

I rotated around to see that she was holding my back plate in her hands, bent to its original shape.

"The representatives somehow managed to fix it up for you, they are really nice and helpful people." Candace gave me a fake smile.

I returned with a false smile of my own.

Our grins quickly faded. We came to an understanding just by looking at each other. It looked like neither of us could truly smile with each other anymore.

After a few more minutes of hiding, finally, I came out and let her put my back on.

"You know, the boys really do love you," Candace started talking out of the blue.

I shuddered with regrets.

"In fact, after you left, Ferb gave this whole speech about how much he loves you. It was really inspiring." She paused. "Everyone else cares about you too, not just the boys. Right now, everyone is working together, searching for you. They're all very worried."

I sunk my head. I loved them too, but I was a threat, a danger, and I didn't know when I could have another episode like at the library.

"It's okay, if you choose to stay in here."

Her suggestion took me by surprise.

"I wouldn't blame you. You are a threat to Phineas and Ferb. I won't hesitate to destroy you if we have another incident, like at the library. I wouldn't even tell the boys where you are if you don't want me to. I would let you stay here, all alone, to think about what you've done." She finished screwing the plate of metal into place on my back, and turned me around to face her. "But, if you do choose to stay here, it will be like we lost you to Doofenschmirtz all over again. Once again, the boys would cry nonstop. Once again, they would fall back into sadness. Just as they did when we lost you the first time. The boys need you, Perry. Just as they are important to you and me, you are important to them. If you disappear like you did last time, I don't know if the boys can get back on their feet." She came closer to me with a pleading look in her eyes. "So, please... I'm asking you..." She leaned even closer to me and unexpectedly wrapped her arms around me. "No... I'm begging you... For the sake of the boys... Please... Come home."

I was shocked. I thought she hated me. After all I did... After how I assisted that man in creating his horrible empire... I expected her to still detest me. How could she stand to be so close to me?

"Perry... This may sound strange coming from me, but..." She hesitated before speaking again. "I... I love you."

My eyes widened.

"I never had much of a chance to ever say it before, but I do love you." She held me tighter, almost as if she was trying to keep me from dissolving in her arms. "When I first learned that you had fallen under Doofenschmirtz, I was scared. Not for myself, or the boys. I was scared that I had lost someone special to me. I didn't want to loose the relationship that we had." She clung to me even tighter. I didn't mind. "Last time you left, I had to stay strong, for the boys, and for the resistance, but now... I don't know if I could keep my composure anymore. After all. We love you."

Of course. It was love. It was always love that kept her going. It was what kept her fighting, even when the situation seemed hopeless. It was what gave her strength and made her brave. If she, a sixteen year old girl could be so strong just through love, why couldn't I?

I finally gained the courage to hug her back.

When she finally let me go, she offered a hand to help me up. "So, what do you say? Do you want to come with me? Do you want to continue protecting the boys?"

I nodded, taking her hand. Yes. I was truly glad that she was the one who found me.

She looked honestly happy. "Then, come on. Perry, let's go home."

**(A/N: I'm sorry it took so long for this to update, I thought I could do so sooner, but first I had to do a huge history project, and then it was finals week and I had to do a big creative writing project. But now I'm on winter break and can finally get back to editing this story! Sigh... I just wish I knew what to write next... By the way, I hope nobody out there took the whole end part the wrong way... Because after a while, I know I did.**

**In other news, for an early Christmas present, my friend gave me a Perry the Platypus backpack... and it's so soft! I love it! I hope everyone else gets awesome presents during their respective holidays as well!)**


	6. Reunion and Pain

Part 6: Reunion and Pain

**(A/N: By the way, for this chapter, I have no idea what I'm doing here... I have a vague idea about what I should do, but for the most part, I'm making it up as I go along... At least for the other chapters I actually know where I'm trying to take this, but for this particular one... I have no idea... I know where this has to go, but I have no idea how to get there... I just hope this doesn't end up too badly.)**

As I stood to join Candace, a sharp, stabbing pain coursed its way through my system.

"Perry...?" Candace asked as she watched my fall over from this searing sting I felt inside of me. "Perry! Are you okay?" She was holding my hand tight.

I did a quick self-diagnosis. Something wasn't right, but I couldn't tell what. I tried to pinpoint the issue, but just as quickly as the problem came, it disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Candace had a concerned look in her eyes.

I shook my head. I felt perfectly normal, but what was that?

"Do you need Dr. Baljeet to look at you some more?" Candace suggested.

I stood up and checked my major functions again. It said that everything was working in proper order, but something felt... dislocated. I shrugged. Whatever that was, it seemed to be gone, and the dislocation I felt now didn't seem that major.

She sighed. "You know, if something doesn't feel right, you need to tell me. After all, we're a family. You can trust us with these things."

I nodded, examining myself again, but for some reason, I just couldn't identify the problem.

"When we get home, you're going to get checked by Dr. Baljeet immediately," she informed me despite my previous motion.

I suspected that she would do that, and indicated that I heard her, walking over towards the exit.

As we approached it, the door set into the wall opened cleanly before us. I felt a twinge of regret as I realised that this was the same passage that I had used to carry Pinky's body to his lair.

Candace sensed my hesitation and asked, "What's wrong?"

I pointed at the thin, faded trail that was barley visible among the dust and the now dim lights of the passageway.

She kneeled to examine it closer. "What is this...? Blood?"

I bowed my head. Yes, that's exactly what it was.

She looked at me, again with those eyes full of pity. "I'm sorry. Do you want to take another exit?"

I shook my head. There was no telling what happened to the rest of the ways out, and judging from my entrence, the system going back up from here would be a gamble. It was more than likely that, if we tried one of the tubes up, we could end up falling into the mines. This route was still perfectly stable and one of the more direct passages. It would do fine.

"Well, if you're sure..."

I was, and I lead her into the dimly lit hallway.

We remained completely silent. I looked up at Candace to see that she seemed to be studying the ground. I turned back to the floor and shook my head. Even now, after almost a whole year of living with her, I still had no idea what was going through that girl's head.

Finally, we were let out into the brightly lit lair, belonging to the resistance.

"What took you so... Oh. I see..." I heard a familiar voice practically sneer. "Where exactly did you find that thing?" I gazed up, and surely enough Benjamin Robins was pointing a single chubby finger directly into my face.

"I'm sorry, Perry, but he refused to leave me alone. He even insisted on coming down here," Candace apologized.

I glanced past his finger, to his face which was almost turning red in anger, set into an expression of contempt. I had to turn away from him. Again, the memories were trying to edge themselves into the forefront of my mind, making it painful to look at him. My hand moved to the place he had hit me with his cane. I still had to remember my position.

"And with good reason too!" he boasted, puffing his chest up like a pigeon. "How could I wander around, unprotected, with a fiend like him running around!" For dramatic effect, he lowered his finger only to point at me with his cane.

"I keep telling you, he won't hurt you. Were you listening to us at all in the library?" Candace tried to convince the man, "Even if he does try to hurt you, he will receive his due punishment."

I clenched my hand tightly around Pinky's collar. Even if she loved me, I still had no right to be protected like this. This man, despite his rude actions, and brash decisions, still had every right to hate me for what I had done, and even attack me if he deemed fit.

"Speaking of which, has he received his punishment for that little event earlier today?"

Candace turned to examine me. "I think he's receiving it right now."

I gulped, standing there in silence. Minutes felt like hours and ticked by with lacking speed. Benjamin just looked confused as he glanced at the both of us.

Finally, Candace broke the silence by asking, "Perry, what's that in your hand?"

I held my hand open in front of me, exposing the object inside to the light. I had almost forgotten that I was still holding onto Pinky's collar. What was I supposed to do with it? Should I leave it in the lair, or give it back to its owners?

Something about it caught my eye. There was something... unusual about it. The gems sparkled almost unnaturally in the light, as if they were blinking. Could it be? I held the collar as still as I could and watched it, indeed, flashing faintly. Was it a signal for something? I brought my other hand to where my own collar used to be wrapped around my neck and glanced at the giant computer screen.

Did he...? It was a fad among the agents, but still... I walked over to the screen and searched the keyboard. Sure enough, there was a hole where I expected it to be. I placed the collar into it, and found that it fit perfectly. I pressed down on it slightly, and almost immediately the screen came alive with light. It opened a file on the computer, and a female, robotic voice said, "Hello, Perry."

My heart skipped a beat in surprise.

The voice continued, "If you are hearing this, then that means that I must have failed."

I took a step forward. This message... It... It must have been from Pinky.

"You see, I have been ordered to put a stop to you, even if it means destroying you. However, that is something that I cannot do. If you are hearing this, then you must have killed me. But the fact that you have discovered this message at all means that you've somehow come to your senses." There was a short pause, almost as if the computer was taking a moment to sigh. "Just remember, you have always been a good person, and my best friend. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. You are no longer a pawn of Doofenschmirtz. Please, let it stay that way. Who you were is not who you are now. Lastly, I'm sorry. It looks like I couldn't keep my end of the promise. Protect Isabella for me." And with that the computer screen went black.

I lowered my head. When did Pinky find the time to make this, and how could he possibly know that this would happen?

"Oh, how sweet. Too bad such a kind notion goes wasted on something like you," Benjamin mocked.

I turned to him, in anger. I wanted to tell him to shut up, that he didn't understand, but I knew that I couldn't speak. Instead something unexpected happened.

Water started to flow from my right eye. I could feel it slowly drip from my still organic eye, down my face, until it came to a halt where metal and flesh met on my chest. I touched my hand to my face, where my fur picked some of the water up. What was wrong with me? Was my fluid containment system failing? Or was this something else? Some overwhelming force took me over, and I could not help but notice more water pouring from my eye. My throat became numb, and my breathing came in short gasps. Something inside of me hurt, but I could not tell what. Whatever it was, it ached and throbbed relentlessly, and I could not stop it. What was this? Something told me that I had felt this before.

"Perry? What's wrong?" Candace came over to me and knelt by my side.

I looked up at her. I was confused. What was this I was feeling?

At one glance, she must have known. "Perry... Are you crying?"

Crying... an indication of sorrow, fear, or pain through the production of tears. Was that what I was feeling? Sorrow? Yes... That was it. I looked back up at the screen. It was like Pinky had died all over again. I missed him, but I knew that he couldn't come back, that he was dead.

Candace's eyes were full of sympathy. She understood how I felt, to some degree. Many of her friends had died in the war. I could sometimes hear her at night, crying for them. "It's okay to cry for a friend. You don't have to look so scared." She smiled and continued, "Now can't you see? You have changed. You are a good person. Even you friend could see that."

I ran to her and buried my face in her black shirt, leaking tears into it.

I could feel her pat my head and say, "Now that's a good boy."

After what felt like even more hours of crying, I was able to compose myself and dry my face.

"You sure you're okay?" Candace asked me.

I nodded. I was fine. Now that I finally had a good cry I knew that everything was going to be alright.

"Still don't get what the whole fuss is about," Benjamin snarled.

Candace stood up abruptly, clenching her fists, making Benjamin flinch.

I reached out, and grabbed her wrist. As she turned to me, I shook my head.

Her expression softened as she replied, "You're right." Her hand loosened. "He's not worth it, let's go home."

I nodded, and I let her lead me to the elevator going up.

"W-wait for me!" Benjamin yelled, chasing after us into the elevator.

I kept my eyes plastered to the ground on the ride up. Luckily, the blood stains had been since cleansed from the floor, but I still didn't want to make eye contact with the portly man in the elevator with us.

The elevator opened into the surprisingly well lit kitchen of the Shapiro household. I couldn't help but glance at the cupboard where I had previously discovered Linda, hiding.

"I hope he's okay..." I could hear Phineas say from the other room. "Why won't they let us help look for him? I mean, we know him better than anyone! Plus he's part of our family! We should have the right to search for him!"

It made me slightly grin. They really did care. They really did miss me.

"I'm sorry, Ferb, but I'm... I'm just really worried. I mean, he's out there, all alone with no one to lean on. I don't care what other people think of him! Things have been hard on him, so we need to find him!"

That was when we stepped into the room.

"Don't you agree..." Phineas stopped mid-sentence, as the two boys turned to the new arrivals. His expression almost changed instantly from concern to joy. "Perry!" Phineas exclaimed, leaping out of the dining room chair.

I watched as Phineas and Ferb ran to me, tackling me to the ground with a hug.

"Perry, where have you been?" Phineas asked me, pressing his face against my metal chest. "We've been looking all over for you!"

I was stunned for only a second, then wrapped my own arms around the boys, bringing them closer.

Ferb slightly turned his face to me with a curious look in his eyes, as Phineas started, "Perry...?" but immediately fell silent.

I could hear Benjamin scoff behind us, but I didn't mind. This was our moment, and I wouldn't let him ruin it.

Of course some other force thought otherwise because as I was holding them in my arms, the pain returned. I let go of the boys, and rolled to my side, curling up as the throbbing sting increased in intensity.

"Perry? What's wrong?" Phineas asked as the world around me became blurred. This pain was now a lot more intense than in my lair.

I could hear Candace pulling out a radio and ordering for everyone to gather at Isabella's house, then she barked at Dr. Baljeet, telling him to get there immediately.

"Perry? Where does it hurt?" Phineas bent over me with a worried expression.

That was the problem. It hurt everywhere. I weakly tried to give him a smile of reassurance, but the pain soon kept me from doing so. Now I could feel my temperature dropping. I was shivering, feeling as cold as a corpse. What was wrong with my heating system? I scanned it, but it didn't say anything was wrong. It said that my heating and cooling was normal, as well as my pain receptors. I could feel myself falling unconscious. I refused to let that happen.

Then I sensed someone taking my back off. "Don't worry, Perry, we'll help you!" Phineas exclaimed.

But for some unexplained reason, my defense system tried to activate itself. I could not let that happen. If it activated, it would try to attack the people who were trying to help me. I dug my hands into the carpet, focusing all of my energy and thought to stopping my body from following through with this command. I didn't care about the pain. I just needed to keep myself from hurting the boys.

I could hear the front door open, and automatically my hands transformed into their blaster form. It took all of my willpower to keep them from taking aim, or firing.

"What's so important that I had to come here immediately?" a high pitched voice asked, coming into the room. "Oh..." Baljeet's mouth hung loosely once he saw me.

"Help us! We don't know what's wrong with him!" Phineas begged to the young doctor. With Candace and Ferb at his side, they removed my back and set it aside to let the doctor see what was wrong.

"Okay, let's see..." he muttered, examining my wires. I had a vague feeling that he was unplugging, re-plugging, cutting, repairing, adjusting, and attaching my wires, cords and cables, but nothing that he did helped.

Finally, after frantic minutes of rapid fire adjustments, Baljeet admitted, "I don't know what's wrong with him."

"What?" the Flynn-Fletcher kids reacted in unison.

"It doesn't make sense. I hooked everything back up, but I still can't tell what's wrong."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Phineas asked frantically, grabbing the front of Baljeet's shirt.

"I... I don't know," Baljeet stuttered looking back to me.

I could only watch as Phineas let go of the doctor, came to my front, and pleaded, "Please Perry. Please don't leave us. We need you."

Just then the pain vanished. I didn't know why, but just as Phineas said those words whatever was hurting me stopped. I was able to sit myself up and do another thorough scan of my systems. Once again, nothing.

"Perry? Are you okay?" Phineas peered at me.

I hesitated. Something was very out of the ordinary, but my scans had identified no problems, even Baljeet admitted that nothing within my system was wrong. I decided to nod.

"No you are not," Candace retorted, "You almost passed out there. Whatever that was, it was obviously not something we can just ignore."

I looked down at my hands. I knew that something had to be wrong with me, but what?

Just then I noticed Phineas snapping his fingers.

I turned to him with a curious look.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, I think I'll go and see what's taking everyone so long. I mean Dr. Baljeet was directly across the street, but where is everyone else? I think I should go," Phineas stumbled over his words. I couldn't help but notice how he compulsively pulled at his ear.

"Aren't you concerned about Perry?" Candace asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but I think that everyone else should know the situation and all." Phineas seemed rather fixated on a ceiling tile, and refused to look at his sister in the eye.

"Oh there's no need. I'm sure they'll be along shortly," Dr. Baljeet remarked.

"Well, you know, better safe than sorry, as they say. Just let me check. I'll be back soon. I swear," Phineas said, looking as if he was searching for the closest exit.

"Okay..." Candace paused, "But be back before it gets dark. I don't want you to get lost."

"Well, you know me, I won't get lost. I'll be perfectly fine." He slowly edged towards the front room. "Now if you'll let me be on my way!" With that he practically ran out of the room. As he opened the door, I could hear him mutter, "Oops, sorry Isabella," before I heard his feet dash across the concrete outside.

"What's with him?" Isabella wondered out loud entering the room.

"I don't know... That was rather... suspicious. In any case, we have more pressing matters to attend to," Candace stated.

"So, why exactly did you call us over here?" Isabella asked in her usual harsh tone.

"I found Perry," Candace remarked, nodding her head towards me. "No need to waste resources looking for something that was already found."

"I can see that, is there anything else?"

"Yes, well you see, something is wrong with him."

"Isn't there always?"

Candace shot her a severe glance and continued, "However, Baljeet doesn't know where the problem is."

"It's frustrating really, I just can't seem to..." he began, but was interrupted by Isabella.

"Have you asked Perry about it?"

"No, but..." Baljeet hesitated.

Isabella ignored the rest that Baljeet had to say and came to my front. "Hey, Perry. Do you know what's wrong with you?"

"Isabella, can't you put it a bit more delicately?" Candace sighed.

"Sorry sir, didn't know how else to phrase it." Isabella turned back to me and repeated, "Well, do you?"

I almost grinned. She was being straightforward with me, and I liked that quality about her. I shook my head. I really didn't know.

A thick silence ensued. We all listened as the clock ticked off the seconds that seemed to get slower and slower with each tick that passed.

"Well, now what?" Ferb asked, breaking the silence.

I turned to him in mild surprise. He had been so silent that I forgot that he was even there.

"I don't see what the trouble is," another forgotten voice sneered. "Just drop him off with Doofenschmirtz and leave him there. Then this whole problem will be resolved."

Everyone in the room turned to him. Most out of curiosity, but I was horror stricken. Was he actually suggesting...?

"W-what?" Benjamin stuttered, his face slowly turning red, this time in embarrassment.

"You know... He almost has a point..." Baljeet stated.

"Yeah, if Doofenschmirtz made him what he is today..." Isabella started.

"Perhaps he could fix him as well," Candace finished.

Then they slowly turned to me. I immediately shook my head in refusal. I didn't care about whatever could happen to me, there was no way I would willingly go to see that man.

Then, almost as if on cue we heard a knock on the front door as a group of people came in.

"Sorry we're late." I could hear Jonathan's voice call from the living room as the group walked into the kitchen. "Since we were all in the city together, we decided to group up before coming back here."

I sighed in relief.

"Yeah, in case you haven't already noticed, we found..."

"Perry. We know," Mr. Adina interrupted Candace to her dismay. "You're little brother briefed us on the way here."

I looked into the crowd, but could not see him among the newcomers. Candace asked the exact words I was thinking.

"So, where is he?"

"I... I don't know..." he admitted.

"He said that he was going to talk to someone first!" Melissa blurted over the chatty crowd.

"Talk to someone? Who would he need to talk to? Especially since everyone is already here?" Candace asked aloud, a concerned edge in her voice.

"I don't know... I just assumed that he wanted to... perhaps... find someone else...?" Mr. Adina hesitated.

"But as I said, everyone's here." That was when Candace's communicator started to sound. Candace sighed, muttering to herself, "Well, I suppose he's going to tell us one way or another..." She activated the device and spoke into it, "Phineas? Where are you?"

"Yeah... Sorry sis, but..." Phineas' voice crackled through the communicator.

That was when I heard it. A second voice in the background. "Hey, kid. Who're you talking to?" My eyes widened. It couldn't be...

"I might be a bit late coming home... You see..." Phineas sounded reluctant.

"Phineas? Who's that with you?" Candace must have heard the other voice as well, so I couldn't have just imagined it. "And what do you mean coming home late, I told you..."

"Hey, kid, give me that. I wanna talk," the other voice requested.

"Um... Okay..." We could hear Phineas' communicator being passed from one hand to another.

"Ur... Hello. Hello? Can you hear me? Is this thing on?" this person asked into the mic.

"Excuse me, sir, but who are you?" Candace almost demanded. I wondered how could she not already know.

"Oh, sorry about that..."

It was undoubtably him. The one who caused it all, the one who brought this family, this community so much pain.

"This is Heinz Doofenschmirtz speaking..."

**(A/N: Duh, duh, DUN! Oh my goodness... I finally finished this chapter. Sorry about the incredibly long, three month delay, but I've finally written this chapter! You have no idea how hard this was to write. I'm really bad at transitioning chapters, and chapters like these can be so boring to create! Add the fact that I had a bit of a writer's block, and got a randomly huge addiction to Romantically Apocalyptic, made this difficult to finish! Please forgive me! Thank the incredibly stupid TCAP tests for a lack of homework so I could finish this, as well as the Platypus Day marathon of Phineas and Ferb that finally got me off of my bottom to write this! (And spring break for editing.)**

**Now the story's finally starting to turn around the last bend! Hopefully there won't be too many chapters after this one, but before I finish this, I need your input. I need to know what kind of stuff you are interested in me writing next! Please vote on the poll on my profile page~ You're allowed up to six (I know an outrageous amount) votes, and the most popular (as long as my sister doesn't nag me too much) I'll try my hardest to write! Quickly! Vote now before I make there be 50 options! The ideas! They keep springing into my head!**

**In any case, as always, I hope you enjoyed! Reviews are very much appreciated, and I try to listen to everyone!)**


	7. Do You Understand?

Part 7: Do You Understand?

**(A/N: One of these days, I really need to find some time for editing. Particularly, it seems that now days it's getting more and more difficult to find a good time to edit as I have to deal with finals and all. Did I ever tell you that I do not allow myself to edit past midnight, and I have my writing be self-edited at least three times before posting? Well, it just feels that lately it has become even harder to find enough time to edit. This is the main reason why this fanfiction as well as my other one take such a long time for me to update. So, sorry for updating later than I expected.**

**But you know, it's all worth it. It always makes me smile to read your, the reader's reviews. They always brighten up my day, no matter how great, or bad it has been! Whenever I post a new chapter I always eagerly await your responses, no matter how few! It particularly makes my happy to see people guess what's going to happen next or try to otherwise interpret stuff! In any case, I cherish each and every review, and it's you people who inspire me to write! Now since I don't want this note get too long, let's go on with the show! I think that I finally kinda know what I want to write!)**

The only sound that accompanied us as we descended down the hallway was the taping of rubber soled shoes against the concrete floor, and the whir of my gears turning. Otherwise, it was silent in the high-arched passage. We all, in some form, hated this place. Even with its cathedral like appearance and its beautiful interior, it still made some of us feel ill. This was no place of worship, unless you praise the god of death. This place was a prison. No matter how much the architecture tried to point your attention to the barred skylights, revealing the maroon sky above, it could not distract from the thick metal doors that lay along each side of the hall, every few steps.

Everyone had heard the rumors of what happened here. If any rebel was caught this was where they were taken. People were brought into here perfectly strong and healthy, but were thrown back out broken and frail. Everything that made _that man_ so dangerous and frightening was represented in this single, complex building. They had broken people here. Shattered their dreams, destroyed their futures with no hope for redemption, or a shard of their former hope. They crushed every bone in the body here, and stole people's ability to walk, talk, or even take care of one's self. They killed adults, children, and even unborn babies if they deemed it fit. Every inhumane experiment, every act of torture that had crawled out of the darkest nightmare, and every sadistic execution was carried out here, in this single building. I know, for sometimes I would be sent to 'work' here.

It wasn't our decision leave this building standing. I am certain that if we had any other choice, that just as the French tore down the Bastille, we would dismantle this building brick by brick until nothing remained. But we had to keep it. This was our only prison, and we had to store all the truly evil and insane people in this area somewhere. No matter how much we hated this building, we had to keep it, for this was the only place where justice could be served. For now, it would have to remain standing.

We finally came to the door at the end of the hall. It was taller and wider than the rest, with intricate carvings in the metal that depicted angels on its frame. I stared up at it in both awe and horror. This door once lead to the dungeon, where all criminals who were not horrible enough to be put in their own cell were kept. For amusement, that man would sometimes offer freedom for whoever could kill the most people in the room with their bare hands, or have some fine banquet put in their midst, and watch them tear each other apart to eat from it while he watched in comfort from his headquarters. However, now it only contained one prisoner.

The guard at the door, a Jeremy Johnson, saluted us as we approached. "Good evening, sir," he addressed Candace. "You have business with Doofenschmirtz today?" I couldn't help but notice that he was almost transfixed to Candace. I wondered if he even knew the rest of us were there.

"Yes, soldier, so if you would let us in?" Candace answered. I noticed that she almost seemed to relax around this boy. Her shoulders slumped down and her weight was positioned to her heels.

"Yes, sir. You are aware that your brother is already meeting with him at this moment, right?" He had a considerably cheerful smile on his face, despite his position. It may seem bizarre, but just his being there, it almost seemed to make the room just a bit brighter.

It seemed that Candace had the same impression of the boy as I noticed a light grin trying to flutter its way onto her lips. "Yes. We've come to collect him."

"So, are all of you going to see him?" the young man asked, turning to the rest of the group following us. Apparently he did notice that Candace had company.

The group consisted of: Ferb, who of course was closest friends with Phineas, and Candace's little brother. Whom if Candace didn't want him in the group, he would have come anyway. Isabella, being Candace's second in command who insisted on coming. Her weapons officer, Adyson, ready for combat in case they got into trouble. Baljeet, seeing this as an opportunity to learn a few things about how to repair me for future reference. Mr. Adina and his daughter Melissa, who were too worried about what was happening to go back to their lodgings for the night. And lastly, Benjamin Robins who insisted on coming, despite the dangers, just because he wanted to 'keep an eye' on us.

"No," Isabella responded for the rest of the group.

Baljeet looked like he wanted to say a word in protest, but Isabella put up a hand, silencing him.

"We'll be in the security chamber, watching if she needs help."

"Very well." Jeremy tossed her a single key. "If the door's locked, that should open it."

"Thank you." Isabella nodded to Jeremy, catching the key out the the air. She turned to lead the majority of the group away.

Now only Candace, Ferb, and I remained.

"So, do you mind letting us in?" Candace asked once the rest of the party had left.

"Of course sir," Jeremy replied, but didn't make any moves to open the door.

"Then why aren't you moving, soldier?"

"Well," he started, pointing to me, "are you certain that it's the best idea to bring him in here?"

I turned to the ground. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps I shouldn't be allowed into the same room with _that man_. I was a danger to everyone around me, and I didn't know what would happen to me in the presence of _him_. After all, the worst of my atrocities were done in the presence, under the orders, or for the sake of _that man_.

"Yes."

I blinked, looking up at Candace. She said it with such assertiveness, without a hint of hesitation. She looked straight into Jeremy's eyes having no doubt about what she was saying.

"Very well, sir. I trust your judgement." He turned to unlock the portal, then yanked at it's decorative handles to open it. This door was far thicker than the other openings in the building. It was made of solid steel, so it took a bit for him to pull them open.

As we stepped inside I took a moment to remember the room with its lofty ceilings, nearly impenetrable stone walls, and narrow windows peering to the outside, too small for anyone to fit through and impossible to reach. The once bare and bloody room was now adorned with a bed, a table, a few chairs, and other objects you may find in your average suburban living room. Among this pleasantly decorated prison cell _he_ sat. From the moment we had entered, he was turned to face the only door, almost as if he was expecting us.

"What did you do to Phineas, you son of a-" Candace started, but _that man_ held up a hand to silence her.

"Now, now, no reason to use such strong language." He lowered his hand then used it to indicate to someone sitting directly across from him. "Your brother's perfectly fine, can't you see?"

We all turned to look at the other side of the table where Phineas was seated. "Hey, sis," he waved to Candace as Ferb ran to take a place by his stepbrother's side.

Candace didn't react to her brother's presence and instead turned back to the man. "So, exactly why did you take Phineas?" she asked, getting right to the point.

"Sis, he didn't..." Phineas tried to answer, but was interrupted.

"I didn't take him," that man simply replied.

"Yeah, I..." Phineas tried to interject but was cut off again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Candace was giving that man a viscous glare from behind her sunglasses.

"I don't know how I can say it any plainer. I did not take him." He was completely unaffected by Candace's attempts to intimidate him, and instead leaned back into his seat.

"Then how did you get to him?"

"I didn't go and get him. Quite on the contrary, he came to me."

"Impossible. Phineas wouldn't do that. You must be lying."

"Candace!" Phineas was finally able to intervene. "He's telling the truth."

She looked stunned for a moment before finally saying, "What? Why would you...?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Phineas asked, taking this chance to assert himself. "It's for Perry."

With that sentence the room went silent.

"Baljeet didn't know what was wrong with him, and he's the only mechanic that we've got!" Phineas went on to say, "Sure, perhaps the other me could fix him up in a jiffy, but I was powerless to help him! What else could I do? We couldn't do anything! He's the only one who can fix him." Phineas pointed to the man.

"But Phineas, you do know who we're talking about, right?" Candace asked after a few more seconds of silence. "This is Doofenschmirtz we're talking about. This is the man who took over our city and enslaved our friends and families. Doofenschmirtz here is the kind of man who could have hundreds tortured or killed without batting his single eye. Do you really think that we can trust him?"

"But... but he's changed! And what else can we do? He's the only one who would know what's going on with Perry. He's the only one who can fix him!" Phineas tried to sway his sister.

"How do you know that he won't try to reprogram him? How do you know he won't try to hurt us?" Candace nearly shouted at her brother.

"I... I..." Phineas looked lost for a second before staring at the ground.

"Exactly. You don't know. Phineas, you may just be a child, but did you even consider the consequences?" Candace asked, going over to her brother.

"I just... I just wanted to help..."

Candace sighed. "Of course you do, but are you sure you can trust him? Are you willing to take a chance with Doofenschmirtz?"

Phineas hesitated, but Ferb spoke for him. "Yeah, I'm willing to take that chance."

Candace kneeled down to him, putting her hand on Ferb's shoulder. "Are you certain?"

Ferb, just like his older sister only a few minutes ago, without hesitation or a hint of doubt in his eyes nodded.

"So, What about you?" She turned to Phineas.

Phineas nearly gawked at his brother for a moment before agreeing, "Y-yeah! We are."

Candace took a deep breath. "Fine, you win." She turned to the eye patched man who had been listening with intense interest the entire time. "I'll trust you for now, but if I find that you tampered with Perry in any way, you'll pay."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, you are a close family and have to agree on everything, just peachy. However, are you sure that you're thinking of what your dear 'Perry' wants?" that man wondered aloud in a near-casual tone, gesturing towards me.

I was taken by surprise. Partially because I felt like I was being ignored, despite the conversation being about me, but mostly because of that man's concern. Since when did he care about my best interests? Since when did he start caring about anyone except himself? However, despite my surprise he had a point.

"Perry?" The boys turned to me in unison as Phineas asked, "What does he mean?"

If I could speak, I would tell them that I would do anything to stay away from that man. I would tell them that Candace was right, and that they shouldn't even consider letting him touch me. I would say that even by being in his presence bad things could happen. However, that man decided to speak for me.

"Can't you see? Look at the way he's standing, the way he looks around distracted. Look at how he almost tries to ignore what I'm saying by not looking at me when I speak, while he very willingly looks at the rest of you to hear what you have to say." I suddenly became very aware about how I was carrying myself. "In fact he's holding himself such that it almost looks like he's repelled from me."

Phineas looked at me for a second then turned back to him. "Yeah, So?"

"So?" He let out a dark cackle. "Haven't you learned yet that he holds his heart on his wrist? ... Or sleeve... Or however that saying goes. In any case, he can't hide his emotions, they're plain for everyone to see."

"Well... No, I haven't noticed, but what does that have to do with anything?" Phineas just didn't see what that man meant.

He sighed and shook his head. "It's a bit obvious you know, boy. He can hardly stand being around me. He is repulsed by my presence. If he can't be near me, how do you expect me to fix him?"

"But... But Perry knows what's best for him, he'll do the right thing!" Phineas was still trying to keep on a strong front, but I could tell that he was doubting himself.

"What is the 'right thing' then? Do you so readily forget the kind of things that he did? Even this very room is still stained with the blood he once shed." He held his arms wide, making the few red stains on the walls painfully easy to notice. "Then again, I suppose you would have to ignore all those atrocities to demote him to being a simple, domestic pet."

Phineas looked almost shocked, but mostly confused. "I... We haven't forgotten. We've just forgiven him."

"Or have you? Surely there is someone close to you that was hurt by him, a friend? A family member?"

At that suggestion Phineas flinched.

A hint which Doofenschmirtz looked all too happy to pounce upon. "So it was a family member. Let me guess... It was your... mother."

"It... it wasn't his fault... She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... He didn't mean to..." Phineas was forced to look away from that man, who grinned in success.

"How do you know? Were you there?"

"No... but..." Phineas looked like words were becoming harder to get out.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" that man mused.

Phineas turned to me, fear edging into his already confused eyes. "Perry... Did you... Did you hurt mommy on purpose?"

I had to take a second to process the question, even though I knew that it was coming. I was forced to remember that day again. Yes, I admitted to myself, as I examined my memory banks. I had to have known that Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro was hiding someone. I had full knowledge that she was hiding that someone in a cupboard in the kitchen, and I knew that it couldn't have been the agent because of the woman's reactions. Yet, I still decided, of my own free will to slowly kill the woman, forcing whoever was in the cupboard to witness the event. The event that made her paranoid of the outside world. So, yes I did hurt Linda on purpose.

"You see?" Doofenschmirtz accused as I began to nod my head. "He even admits to it."

Phineas looked horror stricken, unable to say a single word.

"So, do you still forgive him?" that man, a harsh edge in his voice.

"Shut up. You're just confusing him," Candace ordered.

"Like you should be talking." He spat, reproaching the leader of the resistance. "How many people did he kill in the rebellion? I think I specifically remember a special case of this one girl... If I recall correctly, she was a communications officer or something... What was her name again? Tracy? Lacey?"

Candace froze for a second before correcting him, "You mean Stacy?"

"Ah! Yes! That was her name! Unfortunately for her, she got caught. If I'm correct, General Platyborg decided to make a special example out of her," that man recalled.

"Wait!" Phineas interjected before his sister could respond. "Candace, didn't you say that Stacy was just hurt in a fight with the Normbots, so had to retire? You never said that she died!"

"No... She isn't dead..." It was now Candace who stared down at the ground.

"Not like that's much of a comfort," that man nearly scoffed, "I give the Platyborg credit for the creativity on this one. After all, what use is a deaf communication's officer?"

"Wait... She's deaf? Is that why you never call her anymore?" Phineas asked.

Candace nodded, she looked too upset to talk, but spoke anyway. "They... they took out her eardrums... It's physically impossible for her to hear anymore..."

"That's... horrible," Phineas admitted, but Candace wasn't finished.

"Then they removed her vocal chords. They had to make sure that she couldn't speak even if she tried... I don't know how they did it, but when we got her back, she was a physical and emotional wreck..."

I felt sickened by the memory of the operation.

"Why..." Phineas turned to me. "Perry... Why did you do that?"

I opened my mouth. I wanted to tell him that it was out of my control. That I was out of control. But I was faced with the painful fact that I could not speak. Besides, anything that I could say to comfort him would just become a lie. Instead, I shut my bill, and shook my head.

"Perry..." Phineas started, but Doofenschmirtz interrupted.

"So, what do you think? Should I still fix him up for you?" He gave us a coy grin as I felt that we had played into his hands. When there wasn't an immediate response he continued, "You know what? I'll even fix him up while you decide what to do with little 'Perry' here. When I'm done, you can tell me wether you still want him or not."

"I thought that you were against it," Candace noted.

"Nah, I was never against it. But, since I have nothing better to do, you know, being in jail and all, why shouldn't I fix him up for you?" That man gave a grin that didn't fool any of us.

Candace paused to furrow her brow. "... Who's side are you on anyway?"

"Me? Well I can't exactly be on yours, now can I?" He sneered. "I could be on Platyborg's side, I suppose, but since he appears to be against me at the moment, would that not be contradictory? I suppose that I'm on a side all my own."

"I see... Very well, proceed." Candace turned away from us and beckoned for Phineas and Ferb to follow.

"Sis, what do you think he meant?" Phineas asked, Ferb closely following him.

"I don't know... I think he's just trying to confuse us." I could hear Candace say, going across the room.

I felt a deep longing to follow them, for me to join Candace's side, but my feet seemed almost as if they rooted into the ground. Besides, they wouldn't want me there with them. They needed their privacy.

"Now, how about you come over here, Platyborg," Doofenschmirtz suggested.

I turned from my family to face that man. I found it almost surprising how easy it was to join his side after that single statement.

Without any resistance, I sat down in front of him, where he immediately went to work.

"Man... What were these kids thinking?" he muttered more to himself than me as he examined my wires. He scratched his head. "You're not a toy, you know. It's not really safe just playing with these wires... In fact it's a miracle that you're working at all." He let out a rather loud sigh. "Now let me see... If I do this..." Doofenschmirtz continued, starting the repairs with remarkable speed.

I was taken by surprise how fast he was going. He was going faster than even Baljeet at top speed. It's hard to explain, but as he worked, things started to feel... better. I felt like a great pressure that was crushing my chest was being lightened. As if my wires were flowing energy through them much easier than before. These adjustments made me almost feel as if there was anesthesia flowing through my body, easing the stress and pain of leading this life.

Doofenschmirtz, almost out of the blue sighed, catching my attention. "You know we used to do this a lot, especially when you first came to my side."

I let out a heavy breath. What he was saying was true. I was the first and only attempt at making a true cyborg. He didn't know what he was doing, but somehow through several educated guesses, and dumb luck, he was able to bring me to life. And through many more sessions of trial and error, he was able to create the ideal soldier. I didn't know how he managed to hobble me together, but finally, after so many adjustments, he finally created something that worked. The something that eventually became me.

"You know, despite you being my general, we did have some good times." I found it strange how he was trying to make pleasant conversation with me, but I could sense something behind his words. Something that I needed to hear. "Sometimes, I look up at the skylights and feel nostalgic for those times."

I couldn't exactly say that I felt the same way. While I did feel nostalgia sometimes, I truly missed the way things used to be before his rule. I longed for that bright blue sky that caressed the beating sun in the summer air, and for that peaceful, cloudy, wintery white. However, the sky was now just a sickly maroon shade. I wanted to go back to those peaceful days of childish dreams and a hopeful future. Those days of lazily baking under the sun watching the children play. Those days that I had far too few of.

"You know... I've had a lot of time to think in here," that man continued, interrupting my thoughts, "and I really regret what I've done. My search for power was foolish, and I should have spent my time better. Perhaps I should have tried to connect with my family more, especially my daughter."

I turned to him, surprised by what I was hearing. While I knew that he felt stupid for trying to take over the other dimension, I didn't know that he actually regretted all that he did while in power. I always saw him as a man who showed no mercy to anyone, and never looked back. It was only now that I suspected that my view of this man could be false.

"Perhaps, if I lived more like the other me, I would have become happier. But I suppose it's too late for that now."

I finally understood. Our other counterparts gave us each something that we needed. Something we could never find on our own. I looked to my family, talking amongst each other on the far side of the room. The others gave the boys hope and imagination, Candace was able to find her lost childhood, I received freedom. As for that man, he earned a conscience, and with it, regret.

He gave out a rather loud sigh that reclaimed my attention. "You already know that I no longer have the desire to rule anymore. However, I don't believe that anyone wants to be in prison."

I turned to him... What was he suggesting?

"There. All better," he said, placing his hands on my back. "Go on, test it out."

I stood up and stretched my arms. I took a few steps around the room and from the looks of it, everything was shipshape.

"All your operations working smoothly?" he asked me with genuine curiosity.

I faced him and nodded.

"Great, now come over here. I have some... business for you to attend to."

I raised an eyebrow. Business? He didn't mention any 'business' before. Against my better judgement, I came over to him.

"I understand you, Platyborg. I am your master and so understand you far more than they ever could," he told me, motioning to my distracted family.

I flinched. He didn't have to remind me of what I was to him.

"I know that you have always had a strong sense of justice, but I am asking you to be... irrational just this one time." He came uncomfortably close until his face was next to my ear. "Perry the Platyborg, would you have the courtesy to break me out of here?"

My eyes widened. Now his intentions were now abundantly clear. And I, as his servant, was expected to follow through with these commands.

**(A/N: Now this seems like a good place to stop! Man I feel that this initially came out awkwardly... I apparently knew less than I thought I did for writing this chapter... Heavy duty editing time!**

**Well, I have a feeling that most of this is not exactly what you expected... Probably. You all seemed so fixated on the prospect that Doof kidnapped Phineas. Sorry, but that just wasn't the case! Good idea though!**

**Now Doof wants freedom from prison. What will Perry do? I would think it's obvious, then again, I'm the writer.**

**Whoo! Summer vacation is here for me! You know what that means? Awkward tan lines! Nah, I kid (though it's true). What it really means is more fanfic updates! Also is anyone else going to watch all of Phineas and Ferb, just to celebrate some of that summer freedom? So, I hope that everyone out there has a splendid summer vacation, and some awesome adventures! Also, don't forget, Carpe Diem!**

**In any case, as always, I hope you enjoyed, and please alert, favorite, and review, if you liked it! Don't forget to vote in my poll on my user page! I know that I'm flaky with the number of votes you can have, but I need your input!)**


	8. Master and Servant

Part 8: Master and Servant

**(A/N: Geh. Summer vacation makes maniac a lazy maniac~ In fact it made me so lazy that I couldn't finish writing this chapter till fall break! And editing wasn't done till spring break! Sorry about the huge (near) year long delay... everything has been kinda... Ugh... for me this past school year... So, since I don't want to delay you too much more up here, I hope you enjoy!)**

I blinked at him. Was he seriously asking me to break him from this prison? I nearly had to play that moment in my memory bank again before I could bring myself to answer, it was just too unbelievable.

But no matter how unbelievable it was, the answer was clear.

I shook my head. No. I could not break him out of jail.

He stared at me for a moment, almost like he didn't understand. "What did you say?"

I shook my head again, reasserting my answer.

That man looked taken aback. He took a few seconds to blink before asking, "Are you defying me?"

I raised an eyebrow. I supposed if he put it that way... I nodded. Yes.

"Perry the Platyborg," he sighed, rising to his feet, "I don't think you quite understand your position."

It was my turn to look at him confused.

"I suppose, I was too lenient on you before... Allow me to remedy that." He cleared his throat, as if he was about to say something important. "You will break me out of here." His tone turned dark, and any hint of tenderness that could have existed in his voice before, had vanished with that single sentence.

I took a step back, fearing that he may lash out at me, and shook my head again.

"I didn't make you like this," he stated, glaring down at me with his single eye. "What could possibly have made you so defiant?"

I watched his eye as it flicked from me to the Flynn-Fletcher children.

"It's them isn't it? They made you so disobedient... so ..." he paused for a moment, searching for the right word. When he found it, a cruel grin etched its way across his face. "Weak. Yes, that's what they have made you. Weak."

I shook my head in defiance. He was wrong. They didn't make me weak.

"Oh? No? Well, then prove it."

I tilted my head to the side in question.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" His voice was filled with growing impatience. "If they haven't made you weak, go kill them. If you aren't weak, then it should be no problem for you."

I nearly tripped over myself in shock. Was he really telling me to...

"Didn't you hear me?" that man nearly shouted, "That was an order!"

Without any control or restraint on my part, my hands converted into blasters and aimed themselves at Phineas.

Upon the sound of my blasters charging, Candace looked up. I saw her face turn into an expression of concern, mixed with tones of both shock and foresight as she launched herself towards him. "Phineas!"

My arms fired and I watched in horror as the burning hot projectile headed straight for the red haired boy. Phineas looked from me to the projectile sailing through the air, directly at him.

Our eyes met for a brief moment. There was only one clear emotion within them. Disappointment.

His gaze was only broken by Candace whom just before the shot could reach them, wrapped her arms around Phineas and tackled him to the ground.

The munition harmlessly passed over the two, and instead slammed into the wall behind them, where it exploded, leaving a deep crater in the rock. I held my breath as the dust settled gently around the children. I only released it when I saw that my family appeared unharmed.

I heard Candace talking to the boys, asking if they were okay, but it was drowned out when that man spoke. "Now, doesn't that feel better?"

Turning my blasters back into hands, I looked up at him in disgust.

"Oh, what are you so mad about? I'd say they you're half way to breaking me out of here," he smirked, pointing to the crater in the wall.

I wanted to tell him how low he was for trying to make me kill a group of innocent children, but I could hear Candace and Phineas' begging voices asking each other and themselves what had happened. I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.

The steel door screeched open and a large group of people burst in.

"What happened!" I could hear Isabella shouting to Candace, but she fell silent when she looked towards us.

I was glared up at that man, hate blazing in my eyes. That man simply looked down at me in a cold gaze. We stayed that way for a few seconds, staring each other down in silence, waiting for the other to make their move.

"Well, what are they waiting for!" a familiar voice shouted out, breaking the silence.

We both looked across the room to where Benjamin Robins stood, slightly apart from the rest of the group.

My eyes opened wide in terror as _that man's_ eyes narrowed, slyly.

"If it isn't our good friend, Benjamin Robins." A harsh grin stretched across his face.

"Doofenshmirtz...?!" Benjamin shouted, almost as if he didn't know that he would be in this room.

"I see you're doing well. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"What is it to you?" Benjamin spat, disgust evident on his face.

"Oh, nothing really, I'm just wondering how those legs of yours are doing."

Benjamin clutched the handle of his cane tightly. "Better, no thanks to you."

"I see... Well, Platyborg, Do you really think you've changed?" He tuned to better face me.

I didn't move.

"Well, now is your time to prove it!"

I braced myself for what he was going to say next.

"My next order is for you to cripple our dear friend, Benjamin Robins."

Even though I had already braced myself, I was still taken by surprise by how my arm moved to aim the next projectile at him. But just before they fired, I forced them to stop. However, I quickly found I couldn't move my arm down, that they were still trying to follow through with that man's orders. They fought against me, trying to coax me into acting, but I refused.

"What are you waiting for!" That man scolded. "Fire already!"

"Wait! No! Don't fire!" Benjamin pleaded.

"Go on Platyborg! Show us who is your master!"

"No, Perry!" I heard Phineas shout to me. "You aren't anyone's servant! Resist him!"

"Don't listen to him! He's just a boy! Shoot him!"

"Perry, I will not be able to accept you in our family if you shoot the ambassador under these circumstances," Candace threatened, "no matter how much he deserves it."

Before long, the entire cell was filled with the sound of voices trying to encourage me not to shoot. But they couldn't understand how powerful, how loudly that man's words rung in my head. Half of me wanted to shoot, to get it over with and go back to the way things were under his command, while the other refused to fire, and just wanted to be at peace, at home, with my family. All that these voices really did was give me a headache. Both voices were equally loud in my head. They both were relentlessly fighting for dominance, only getting louder and louder. I clutched my non-weapon arm to my head, trying to quiet the voices. I just wanted silence, time to think it through. I just wanted to shut down and forget about it all... Shut down... that was it. That program, old and forgotten could be the answer. An unbiased test to see which side would win. I closed my remaining eye, remembering the codes for activating it. Hoping that it would still work, I entered the code into my system. It activated. I could feel myself fall as all went silent and black.

.~.~.~.~.~.

Perry looked like he was struggling... but why? It was obvious what the right choice was, and it was not like him to kill an innocent bystandard. It must've been Doofenshmirtz. Perhaps he had done something... had recently entered a program that forced Perry to follow all of his orders... After all... Why would he try to kill me? Perry clutched a hand to his head. His face was contorted into an expression of pain. But then he just... stopped.

He fell forward and appeared to black out. His arm blaster disarmed itself and shut down. His organic eye closed as the blue light on the other dimmed until it was off.

"Perry!" I shouted, running to his side. I scooped up his head in one hand, and lay it over one of my thighs. "Perry? What's wrong?" I asked.

There was no response.

I shook him.

Again, no response.

"Why...?" I whispered more to myself than to him.

It was then I noticed Doofenshmirtz looming over me, examining Perry with an unsympathetic eye.

"You..." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that? You'll have to speak up boy," Doofenshmirtz mocked.

"What did you do to him!" I lashed out at him.

He took a step back in surprise, but quickly regained his posture. "That's what I'm trying to figure out," he said, outstretching an arm to Perry.

I immediately pulled him away from the man. "What do you think you're doing now?"

"Well, if you want me to figure out what's wrong with him, I need to examine him."

"And why should we let you do that?"

Doofenshmirtz didn't respond.

"I think I can help," Dr. Baljeet said, stepping forward.

"Dr. Baljeet?" I asked. "You think you can find the problem?"

"I'm not certain, but I should at least be able to get a general idea of what's happening."

.~.~.~.~.~.

I realised that I was once again in that pitch black room. Shaking my head, I sat up, examining the area around me. There was nothing. And other than of the sound of my gears turning it was completely silent.

Where am I?

"Haven't you figured that out yet?" I could hear a familiar voice say.

Where are you?

"Where I always am," the voice mused coming from all sides.

And where is that?

"In the recesses of your mind." In the darkness before me a red light flickered on, but whatever it was attached to was masked by the darkness.

I hesitated before stepping closer to the entity with the red light. Who are you?

"I thought I told you before," the voice answered in an amused tone. "Doofenshmirtz."

No... I know you... but you aren't him.

The voice laughed. "Then who am I?"

.~.~.~.~.~.

Dr. Baljeet looked up from Perry to me. "Well, his vitals appear to be okay. His pulse is regular, his blood pressure is not too high or low for him, he is breathing at a normal rate. However, I do not know what's happening with his machinery. As far as I can tell, it has just... stopped working. Perhaps if we open him up..."

"Do it," I ordered Baljeet.

Without a word, he turned Perry over to examine his back, but the moment he tried to remove the first screw, a surge of electricity came at Baljeet, forcing him to pull away.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"What does it look like he did! He just electrocuted me!" Baljeet shouted, caressing his hurt hand, examining for any major burns.

"Do you have any idea why?" I asked over his shouting.

"I don't know, there could be a short, something could have been poorly rewired, a cable could not be well insulated, he could be overloading, I don't know!"

"Are you calling me a bad mechanic!" Doofenshmirtz shouted, offended.

"Well, if it wasn't your crappy workmanship, then what was it? A form a defense...? Wait... Could it have been to defend himself...?"

We both turned to Doofenshmirtz as he uttered to himself, "He didn't..."

"He didn't what?" I asked, only to be pushed aside.

Doofenshmirtz bent over him and closed his eyes.

"What are you..." I started, but Doofenshmirtz held up a hand, shushing me.

I looked to Baljeet who just shrugged.

Doofenshmirtz opened his eyes and muttered to himself, "He did..."

"He did what?!" I barked at him. "I think we deserve to know what you did to him."

"Not what I did to him. What he did to himself."

"And what did he do?"

Doofenshmirtz looked down to Perry and chuckled to himself. "Even after all I did, he pulls this on me?"

"Answer my question, Doofenshmirtz! Before I force you to!"

He sighed, turning to me with a rather lame look in his eye. "Boy, there are a lot of things that you don't know about your pet, and this is just another one of them."

"And what is that."

"What do you think would've happened if I had ruled over Danville for so long that I died?"

"I don't know. We, the people, would probably make a new..."

"Wrong. I would have a successor take over for me. Now the Platyborg over here was programmed such that he would only obey me... Unless..." Doofenshmirtz paused.

"Unless what?" I asked.

"Unless he activated a certain program. A program that was designed to be utilised by my successor in order to inherit this area's most important general. A program that only the Platyborg could activate."

"But what's going to happen to Perry!"

"Don't worry. Your 'Perry' here is fine. In fact all we have to do it say the magic words... the magical thirteen letter combination and he will awaken, his programming completely rewired to follow whoever said the password."

"Then why don't you do it already!?"

"Sheesh! Calm down already. I would just prefer you not to hear what I say." Doofenshmirtz kneeled down, putting his mouth next to Perry's ear and whispered.

Nothing happened.

Doofenshmirtz stared for a moment in confusion. "Platyborg?" The former evil dictator took Perry by the shoulders and shook him.

He did not stir.

Doofenshmirtz blinked. "Here, Platyborg."

Again, nothing.

"Here, Platyborg. Awaken. Come here to my side."

"What's wrong with him?" I asked, trying to hide the desperation in my voice.

"I... I don't know... I know I said the right password... the program should still be working, I made sure of it, he should boot right back up... but he isn't..." Doofenshmirtz paused as a sudden realisation washed over him.

"Then what is it?" I demanded from him.

Doofenshmirtz looked back to Perry. In barely more than a whisper he uttered. "That sly little... He... He changed the password."

**(A/N: Aaaaaand THAT seems like a good place to stop. Dun dun DUN! Oooooooh a cliffhanger! You have NO idea how long I procrastinated on this chapter. You have NO idea how glad I am that I have finally gotten to this point in the fanfiction. I have had this moment more or less planned out since the beginning.**

**To explain my recent absence, it was because I completely slacked off all of my summer vacation, you know, having a social life for once and actually trying to clean the disaster zone that I call my room. I got obsessed with various different shows such as Transformers, Romantically Apocalyptic, and most recently, Adventure Time, and kept procrastinating. And before I knew it it was almost spring! However, worry not! I have been trying to write in this time, so you people should get some new material... soonish!**

**As always reviews and whatnot are greatly appreciated!)**


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